Med School Applicant Interview with Roheet Kakaday

Have the utmost faith in yourself. Get ready to read about our next med school blogger, Roheet Kakaday who blogs at The Biopsy and has applied to medical schools all over the U.S. Looking forward to hearing good news from you Roheet! Accepted: First, can you tell us a little about yourself? Where are you from? What and where did you study as an undergrad?   Roheet: My name is Roheet Kakaday and I like to consider myself a technophile, amateur futurist, idea explorer, and a hot chocolate aficionado. I cobble thoughts together at  The Biopsy,  tweet with the handle  @TheBiopsy, and correspond at  thebiopsyblog@gmail.com. Im from California and I earned a degree in Bioengineering with studies in Political Science and History from UC San Diego. Accepted: Why did you decide to blog/Tweet about your pre med experience? What have you gained from blogging? Roheet: I first started my blog as more of a personal learning platform than an avenue through which to share my premed experience.  Though I do occasionally share some personal premed stories, the majority of my posts are opinions on modern medicine.  I actually recently wrote a piece on  why I blog, which answers your question more completely. To put it briefly, blogging has improved my thought process, communication skills, and awareness of issues. I plugged myself into the Twittersphere and followed different health care thought leaders, curators, and creators in the hopes of broadening my horizons. Thankfully, it worked. Within three months of connecting with others online, I learned more about medicine in its entirety than I did in three years of college. As I learned, I began formulating thoughts and expressing them through my blog. Other people started sharing my thoughts through social media, and I started to become part of a larger online discussion. Now, I can say I have developed a fluency in the issues that matter in medicine today, which renders my medical school interviews much easier and more substantive. Moreover, blogging and participating in social media have taught me great lessons in both online and offline professionalism, which is crucial for the next generation of physician. In hindsight, one of the underlying reasons why I started blogging was to demonstrate to medical schools that I am an accountable and dynamic learner who is passionate about medicine in its entirety. Medical schools are always looking for applicants who demonstrate a passion for learning, as medicine is an ever-evolving field. A professionally maintained blog is a great way to show that in a concrete fashion. Accepted: What do you think are some of the pros and cons of taking time off between college and med school?   Roheet: Before I applied to medical school, I asked all the physicians I knew what they would do differently if they were to repeat medical school. The majority of them expressed regrets over not taking a year off before entering medical school. So, I decided to learn from them and took the year off while applying to medical school. During my year off, I have been able to refocus my aim from the traditional research-volunteering-grades premed mindset to a more creative and entrepreneurial orientation. I have had opportunities to explore spaces, ideas, and interests that I didnt have time for as a premed engineering undergrad. Through my social media presence, I have learned a lot about the health cares diverse needs, which has led to a lot of innovative brainstorming sessions. I would absolutely recommend taking a year off so you can explore yourself outside of medicine. We are multifaceted and sometimes we can forget that in the premed race. The only bad thing about taking a year off is the lack of pressure. In college, were used to deadlines and assignments that push us to stay on track and deliver constantly. If you take a year off, but dont do anything, medical schools time crunch will hit you like a freight train. It is important to keep busy during your year off to retain those time management skills. Accepted: What stage are you at in the med school application process? What has been the most difficult aspect of this process?   Roheet: Right now, Im at the interviewing stage. I think the most difficult part of this application process is not the medical school selection, essay writing, or the interview prep, but the waiting. After you submit your secondary or finish your interview, every day that goes by without an email from a medical school seems like an eternity. You start to fret, begin playing out worst case scenarios in your head, and start making alternative life plans. As premeds, we stake our dreams on medical school admissions committees opinions, so it is hard not to worry! The best advice I have for those who have a natural inclination to brood is to keep busy. Once my year off started, I immersed myself in activities outside the application process I founded a new community-based not-for-profit, took interesting courses from Coursera, gained programming skills from Codeacademy, kept volunteering, and more. Do things that will take your mind off your application and keep you productive. Accepted: Have you taken the MCAT yet? Can you share some MCAT tips with our readers? Roheet: I did take the MCAT. There are a lot of MCAT study strategies out there from some great bloggers, so do a quick Google search if youre planning on self-studying. Learn from others lessons and start from there. Personally, I felt somewhat daunted by the concept of self-starting during the busy school year, so I joined a prep course. That investment paid dividends because it organized the information for me, which is a huge help when youre already juggling extracurriculars and tough classes. Now that the new MCAT tests even more knowledge than the previous version, a prep course would be your best bet. The most important MCAT tip I can possibly give is in regards to your mindset.  I think nerves are the largest detractor to good performance.  On the day before your MCAT date, do whatever you need to in order to convince yourself that you know everything the MCAT could possibly test. Build up your confidence, even if you have to fake it, so that when you walk into the testing center, you are at your calmest.   If you dont believe in your ability, youre not going to do well on the test, regardless of how much youve studied. What I did to build myself up was listen to epic movie trailer music while imagining conquering the MCAT. That works for me because Im a visual thinker, but others may find more effective ways of energizing themselves. Whatever you do, make sure you have the utmost faith in yourself on test day. You dont want to be second guessing your way through the entire test. Do you want to be featured in Accepted.coms blog, Accepted Admissions Blog? If you want to share your med school journey with the world (or at least with our readers), email us at bloggers@accepted.com. //

Origin And Supernatural Beliefs Associated With Ouija

The Ouija (/ˈwiË dÊ’É™/ WEE-jÉ™), also known as a spirit board or talking board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words yes, no, hello (occasionally), and goodbye, along with various symbols and graphics. It uses a planchette (small heart-shaped piece of wood or plastic) as a movable indicator to indicate the spirit s message by spelling it out on the board during a sà ©ance. Participants place their fingers on the planchette, and it is moved about the board to spell out words. Ouija has become a trademark that is often used generically to refer to any talking board. Following its commercial introduction by businessman Elijah Bond on July 1, 1890, the Ouija board was regarded as a harmless parlor game unrelated to the occult until American Spiritualist Pearl Curran popularized its use as a divining tool during World War I. Paranormal and supernatural beliefs associated with Ouija have been harshly criticized by the scientific community. The action of the board can be parsimoniously explained by unconscious movements of those controlling the pointer, a psychophysiological phenomenon known as the ideomotor effect. Some mainstream Christian denominations have warned against using Ouija boards, holding that they can lead to demonic possession. Occultists, on the other hand, are divided on the issue, with some saying that it can be a positive transformation; others rehash the warnings of many Christians and caution

IT Ethics Shares of Science Papers Free Online to Spread Knowledge

Question: Discuss about the IT Ethics Researcher Illegally Shares Millions of Science Papers Free Online to Spread Knowledge. Answer: Researcher Illegally Shares Millions of Science Papers Free Online to Spread Knowledge IT ethics is the branch of the ethical studies which focuses on ethical behavior in the realm of computer technology. It refers to the ethical considerations regarding the social impact of computer technology. It is a new branch of ethical studies and pertains to the development and justification of ethical theories in the cyberspace. The computer ethics refers to the personal and social impact of computer technology for the development of ethical policies. The ethical theories assure that the IT professionals do not misuse their technological knowledge and skills. It is the practice of differentiating wrong and right in information technology. The present paper evaluates the ethical issue of related to the online publishing of the journal articles. A researcher in Russia, Elbakyan has published more than 48 million journal articles online free. The site is named Sci-Hub which is a pirated site for the science world. It can be critiqued that the knowledge and the journal articles are not the property of a single person and the general public must be able to access the articles without paying any fees. Another issue in sites like Elsevier is that the fees obtained from the users is not transferred to the scholars who have published their articles but to the company itself. It is in contrast to other art and media companies, wherein a portion of the fees obtained by the companies is transferred to the performing artists. Another ethical question in the excessive charging of fees is that whether it is assisting the science to progress or hindering it. The excessive charging of fees hinders the basic right of the human beings to enjoy the cultural life and share in scientific advancements and its benefits (Macdonald, 2016). According to the utilitarian perspective, net neutrality can be categorized as an immoral action. Utilitarian philosophers states that the morality of an action can be judged according to its consequences on the public and different stakeholders (Barrow, 2015). The basis of this philosophy is on the utility theory which judges an action according to its utility for the society. Accordingly, if an action has overall good outcomes on the society and the public, it can be categorized as a morally justified action (Mill, 2006). Sci-hub is bringing to the general public the scientific achievements of the prominent scholars. It is also contributing to the growth of the scientific research by increasing the accessibility to the recent researches. The utilitarian perspective states that the organization should thee action should be judged according to its consequences on the society. The companies like Elsevier are charging excessive fees from the readers and people who are interested in the scientific advancements. This fee is obtained and used by the company and not transferred to the scholars who have worked hard for the publication and the research. Therefore, act of charging fees from the users is selfish and cannot be considered as morally justified. However, when examining the action with the deontological philosophy, it could be stated that the action is morally incorrect. This ethical theory states that a person must abide by law and rules irrespective of the situation (Haidt, 2012). This ethical perspective gives least significance to the consequences of the action and states that a person must abide by the law. According to this theory, there are different cultures and each person follow different ethical principles. When a person follows a specific ethical perspective, he must abide by all of its rules (Timmons, 2012). According to this theory, the people should have the freedom to access whichever website they want and should be able to access all the content without any restrictions. However, obtaining the access rights from pirated sited or in a wrong manner is completely unjustified. It can be critiqued that although sci-hub is doing an ethical work of bringing the work of thousands of scholars to the public, it is doin g it with unethical means. Therefore, the organization is conducting business unethically, in spite of the good intentions of the owners. Therefore, the action can be categorized as unethical when examining with the perspective of deontological ethical theory. The virtue ethics is another ethical perspective which states that a person judges an action according to his local environment and the upbringing. It emphasizes the role of the individual character and the virtues rather than the utility perspective and doing ones duty. The virtue ethics do not provide any guidance for the ethical behavior as it states that there is no other guidance rather than the ethical behavior (Jacobs, 2008). It does not emphasize the rules, consequences and particular acts; however, focuses on the virtue of a person who is acting. It emphasizes on the motives of acting person (Hinman, 2012). When a person acts on virtue, he acts on a particular motivation. According to this ethical theory, the people should follow virtuous behavior. It can be states that according to this theory, the action of providing access to the journal articles published in international journals is unethical. The publication of articles in different journal takes a lot of efforts. More over, before publication, these articles are needed to be reviewed by the academicians. The scholars also have to do a lot of research for the publication in the journal articles. The academic database like Elsevier charges the users with fees for these efforts. It can be stated that from the perspective of these organizations, the charging of fees is ethical and justified. Although the fees is not transmitted to the academicians who have engaged in the research, other people who have contributed to the publication of the research paper and assisted in the research get benefits from it. The fees is also justified as the organization has to maintain a number of staff for maintaining the database electronically. The social contract theory states that the moral or the political obligation of a person is dependent upon the contract or agreement of the person with the society in which they live. The theory states that in a society, people live together by forming some agreements that establish moral and political rules. According to this theory, people behave in a specific way as they form social contracts with other members of the society and not because some other person is requesting it (Waluvhow, 2003). The social contracts can be explicit or implicit, such as the constitution of a country is explicit example of social contract whereas manners and the social norms are the examples of the implicit social contract. According to the social contract theory, the action of Sci-hub is morally correct. According to this theory, people create social contracts with the society and behave accordingly. An individual has responsibility towards the society in which he is residing. It is also important to share the benefits of the scientific innovation and discovery with other people. According to this theoretical perspective, the action of providing free access to the users in the scientific database is a good action. It is not only essential for providing free access; it will also foster further innovation and research. As a whole, this action will be beneficial for the society (Sher, 2012). It can be concluded that the action of Sci-hub will be beneficial for the society and morally correct when examined through the perspective of utilitarianism and social contract theory. On the other hand, when the same action is examined from the perspective of deontological ethics and virtue ethics, it can be stated that the action is unethical. References Mill, J.S. (2006). Utilitarianism. ReadHowYouWant.com. Barrow, R. (2015). Utilitarianism: A Contemporary Statement. Routledge. Timmons, M. (2012). Moral Theory: An Introduction. Rowman Littlefield Publishers. Sher, G. (2012).Ethics: Essential Readings in Moral Theory. Routledge. Hinman, L.M. (2012). Ethics: A Pluralistic Approach to Moral Theory. Cengage Learning. Jacobs, J. (2008). Dimensions of Moral Theory: An Introduction to Metaethics and Moral Psychology. John Wiley Sons. Haidt, J. (2012). The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. Penguin UK. Waluvhow, W.J. (2003). The Dimensions of Ethics: An Introduction to Ethical Theory. Broadview Press. MacDonald, F. (2016). Researcher Illegally Shares Millions of Science Papers Free Online to Spread Knowledge. Science Alert. Retrieved on 14 May, 2017 from https://www.sciencealert.com/this-woman-has-illegally-uploaded-millions-of-journal-articles-in-an-attempt-to-open-up-science