Email Addresses

In PT school, I had to use my school email address for everything - communications with my professors  and clinical placements, etc. The faculty gave a lecture on receiving emails from inappropriate personal email addresses. I laughed and thought they were over-exaggerating. Then my classmate proceeds to tell me a story about when one of his classmates (when he was working on his pre-reqs) put her email address on the blackboard because she was coordinating a mass email from the professor. Her email address was along the lines of ….xsexykittenx.

This is an important note. People will laugh at (and judge you by) your email address. Have a personal one and have a professional one. I recommend never having any professional email addresses with the x in the beginning or end of the your name, unless there is an 'x' actually in your name. Its just a bad road that you want to avoid.

Picture from ecards.

Manners Matter and so does Spelling and Grammar!

When I was a retail buyer in 2008, I had to hire 2-3 assistants for my company. I got hundreds of resumes a day through email. It was also the year that the economy tanked. It was a part-time job filtering through those resumes on top of my regular job. I don't have an HR experience. How am I supposed to figure out what the ideal candidate looks like on paper ?! 

My boss helped me tremendously. She said if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes in the email, cover letter or resume, reject it. Simply as that. She said that's the person that is going to be representing our company. Would you send in a resume or cover letter with spelling or grammar mistakes [add glaring look]? With that simple criteria, I was able to cut the submission load by half, maybe more. 

Manners matter. Spelling and Grammar Matter. Watch what you send to people. Most programs have a spell check. USE IT! 

Picture from FYIHigh.

Meeting new people

My friend was online dating for about a year when she was tasked on the "just say yes" journey. She hadn't been meeting any men that she clicked with so she said she would be more open minded about the selection process and accept any date, just as long as the guy wasn't creepy. Also, she said she would blog about her experience to a small group of us. I asked her what was the most interesting thing that she learned from this experience.

She said that since she had to blog about it, she had to find out at least one interesting thing about the person that she was on a date with. It helped with conversation. Everyone has at least one interesting fact and if you set out to find it out, you will be pleasantly surprised by the conversation. This is great advice for meeting new people especially in the clinic! Puts a new spin on meeting new people [and less pressure on myself] - in search for the person's most interesting attribute. I can dig it.

Picture from Natacha Maheshe's blog.

Finished the academic portion of my curriculum in Dec!

Its weird. I have been so anxious about this post. I was done with the academic portion of my DPT program in early Dec. I've slaved over books, notes, lectures and labs for the last 2.5 years (and another year on top of that for pre-requisites at community college). I passed some hard ass classes in my last semester and my comprehensive exam that was a cumulation of all my course work. HOLY SHIT, I'M ALMOST DONE! I was so high. Now I'm in clinic. And I'm getting nervous again. In 6 months time, I will be treating patients on my own. I remember scoffing at my professor when she told us a story about how she has a mini breakdown on her first day of work as a full-time therapist. Look who's laughing now. Not me.

Picture from the Boston Globe.

Empathy vs Sympathy

I got this video from my favorite blog, Cup of Jo.

I am guilty of sympathy. I'm going to work on expressing empathy in my personal and professional life. A beautiful video about it.

I love Khan Academy

I once took a college physics course with a professor who barely spoke English. Physics was hard enough in high school. However, I still got an A in the course. I thank Sal Khan from Khan Academy. He is the sole reason for my A.

If you are having trouble understanding physics, chemistry, physiology... etc. Check youtube and see if Khan Academy covered the concept. The narrator really knows how to break down concepts.

I just watched this video about the Sliding Filament Theory to brush up on my physiology for my comprehensive exam.

Community

2 of my girlfriends gave up their profession to go back to school. My #1 advice to them was make friends in your class. My professor said early on in the program that the curriculum does not grade on a curve. Therefore, it does not benefit you to do better than your peers. So make friends...study in groups.

My class took it to the next level. We built a community. PT school is intense and we lost a few souls in the first year but not after that. I really think its because no one wants to fail out and join another class. We all joined a Facebook group so we can post things that might be helpful to each other - study guides, online resources, info from an email that a professor sent to just one of us. Then people started having house parties and birthday gatherings and invited the whole class. After a tragic practical exam, someone would post something hilarious from this #whatshouldwecallptschool. Then there's that class that we are all freaking out about and someone posted a time & place to meet to get extra practice in before the next quiz. Its hard to be alone in our class. Its probably my favorite thing about being in PT school.

Picture of the TV show cast of Community from Sheknows.