A Tale of Two Classes

A Tale of Two Classes How do you go from taking 5 classes a term to only taking 2? You would think its easy, but its really not. So this semester is the FIRST SEMESTER EVER that Ive taken less than 48 units. So what am I taking you ask? 7.06: Cell Biology Lecture: Tuesday and Thursday 9:30 11 am Recitation: Friday 11 am Professors: H. Ploegh and T. Orr-Weaver Biology of cells of higher organisms: structure, function, and biosynthesis of cellular membranes and organelles; cell growth and oncogenic transformation; transport, receptors, and cell signaling; the cytoskeleton, the extracellular matrix, and cell movements; chromatin structure and RNA synthesis. Commentary: We watched this video the first day of lecture. Possibly one of the best science videos ever. 2.008: Design and Manufacturing II Lecture: Monday and Wednesday 12:30 2 pm Lab: Wednesday 2 5 pm Professors: J. Chun Integration of design, engineering, and management disciplines and practices for analysis and design of manufacturing enterprises. Emphasis is on the physics and stochastic nature of manufacturing processes and systems, and their effects on quality, rate, cost, and flexibility. Topics include process physics and control, design for manufacturing, and manufacturing systems. Group project requires design and fabrication of parts using mass-production and assembly methods to produce a product in quantity. Commentary: WE GET TO MAKE YO-YOS IN THIS CLASS. And the professor gives us chocolate halfway through lecture. Sidebar Commentary: So this is the first time in my life that Ive participated in Lent. For the record, Im giving up sweets and complaining. The last time I did anything for several days back to back was senior year of high school when a few friends of mine and I decided to see how long we were willing to wear the exact same outfit to school (yes, we did shower and yes, we washed our clothes). Scene: 2.008 Lecture on Wednesday Professor Chun begins to distribute chocolate to the class. I dig through the bag for my favorite piece of chocolate. I bite in. Me: Oh crap. Im not supposed to be eating this. Rob: That would be correct. Rob takes the chocolate from me and eats it. This is going to be a rough 40 days. So the reason I only wanted to take 2 classes this term is because I expected applying to graduate school to take up a lot of my time this semester especially having to fly out for interviews. Surprisingly, this strange thing has been happening lately. I get an invitation to interview at a school. I confirm. In the interim time between the invitation to interview and the actual interview, I get accepted. This happened yesterday with UC Berkeley right before I went up on stage at the Medlinks date auction (to be blogged tomorrow). It happened with UPenn about 3 weeks ago. Its a nice feeling. So for the record: Applied to 8 Schools Accepted to 5 Interviews at 2 others Havent heard a thing from the last one Oh, and about Berkeley? Did anyone watch the OC Series FinaleBen? What will I ever do with my Thursday nights?