Hi everyone! My name is Neeral Patel. I am a junior here at the University of Oklahoma, majoring in Biology while trying to finish up the Pre-Dental requirements. Once I graduate, I hope to get in to the University of Oklahoma: College of Dentistry. In my free time, I like to watch and play sports. Whenever my friends and I get together, I usually go out and play flag-football, soccer, basketball, etc. I also like watching a couple of different TV shows when I’m home and have nothing better to do. A couple of my favorites are Psych, Suits, Royal Pain, and White Collar. I also started a new one this summer, which is called Tyrant.
After college, I plan on going to dental school, and for that reason I started shadowing a dentist this summer. Whenever I got free time, I would go to the dental and watch the different dental procedure they get to do. It was really exciting, knowing that I could be doing this in just a couple of more years. Along with that, I took two summer classes: physics, and biochemistry. These classes and the shadowing took up so much of my summer, and I didn’t really even realize how fast summer went by.
This semester I will be taking a lot of challenging course such as: Organic Chemistry Lab, Genetics, and Evolution. So, I decided to also take a class that would be fun and still could learn a lot from. Both of my parents were born and raised in India and that is one of the reasons I choose to take this class. Even though I grew up learning about and following Hinduism, I still have many questions. I have heard some of these stories as I was growing up and this class would really help me put all the stories together.
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| A dental chair. Source: Wikimedia Commons. |
Hey Neeral! I'm Catherine. Just like you, when I have free time I like to watch some TV and Psych is one of the best shows ever created in my opinion. I find it incredible that you want to be a dentist. I have always considered it an admirable profession. I think your motivation for taking this class is awesome, and I hope some of the stories continue to connect together with what you have grown up learning about. I took this class because it sounded interesting, and now that I have learned a little bit about it I have realized how interesting it actually is. It is nice to meet you Nerral!
ReplyDeleteHi Neeral! I'm choosing you as my extra credit this week :) Haha. I recently started a show on Netflix called, "Orphan Black." It's awesome! So whenever you have some extra free time, you should totally go and check that show out. It's about this crazy scientist who's really interested in NeoEvolution and does all these experiments. I'd tell you more, but I don't want to ruin it for you. I agree with you fully, summer classes and work definitely kept me super busy. I can't believe summer flew by so fast and now the first week of school is already over! Glad you're in this class though and I hope you can piece your stories together :)
ReplyDeleteHey Neeral! I think that it's really cool that you're taking this class with so much background in Indian culture. I noticed that you took biochemistry over the summer, which is kind of cool because I'm currently in that class. Hopefully it won't be too difficult. I've already taken genetics and organic chemistry lab. I really enjoyed my genetics course, but thought that o chem lab took too much time. It really depends on the TA that you have though, so hopefully you get a good one! I look forward to reading more of your post throughout the semester!
ReplyDeleteHey there Neeral! I really enjoyed reading your introductory blog post. I think that it is super cool that you're going into dentistry. My mom is an endodontist so I was raised around the whole dental field and have always found it to be quite interesting. If you're every looking to shadow an endodontist, let me know, i'll see what I can do.
ReplyDeleteOh, I am so glad that this class can connect with your experiences and answer questions for you, Neeral - that's great! As you'll see, the class is made up of a whole range of students: people who have known characters like Rama and Sita and Krishna all their lives, and people who have never heard of them before. That variety of backgrounds is one of my favorite things about this class; I think you'll see what I mean as you read other people's blogs. Everybody is coming to the epics in their own way!
ReplyDeleteAnd I am now a fan of dentists! For years I was the nervous type of patient, but I finally found a dentist who is just wonderful and she has taken such good care of me and my husband! She also has what I think is a really friendly website, too - her husband made the website:
Gadol Family Dentistry
Hi Neeral! Great introduction post! It is so cool that you're so motivated to pursue your goal and passionate about your field of study. Shadowing is a great thing to do; I am pre-med, so I've also discovered how valuable it is to make connections and gain more insight into what it's like to work in the field. I took biochemistry this summer as well! Did you take it with Dr. Najar? It's so great that you will be able to relate your personal experience with the culture of India with the class.
ReplyDeleteHi Neeral! That's really cool that you plan to go to dental school! I'm also going into a healthcare field, so I have taken a lot of the same courses as you, they're definitely challenging! I found physics and biochemistry to be two of my most difficult courses. I also like to watch White Collar and Royal Pains! I've never watched Suits, but I have heard great things about it and was thinking about watching that too! I think that it is really cool that you are taking this course to learn more about India where your parents grew up! I have already taken one of Dr. Gibb's courses, and I think you will really enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteHiya Neeral,
ReplyDeleteI'm a pre-professional major too. I'm a Chemical Biosciences major studying to get into Optometry school. My perspective is similar to yours on this class; I wanted to try something less challenging but different from the science classes I usually fill my schedule up with. I do not have any Indian heritage, but I find the culture and art to be really interesting.
Hey Neeral! Nice to meet you! Sounds like we have a lot in common! I am also a biology major but I'm Pre-med. I also really enjoy sports as well. I also took this class as a breather from all the hard classes i am taking. Im planning to take evolution and genetics in the upcoming semester. What do you think of those two classes so far?
ReplyDeleteNeeral I enjoyed getting to know a little bit about you through your introduction! I think we have a lot in common, firstly, I am pre-medicine and I feel the whole science classes pressure and it being hard to get into medical school or dental school. I hope you get in though! I personally don't know much either about my culture since both my parents were also from India but this class is great I love it so far! I hope to get to know you more over this semester! Have a great year!
ReplyDeleteGreat to meet you Neeral! I think it is awesome that you are taking such difficult classes and are pushing through to go to graduate school here at OU. Sounds like you are on a great path towards your career choice. It is also so cool that you grew up knowing some of the stories we are learning about in this class, because I had never heard of any of them myself - so its like a whole new world to me. I hope this semester isn't too rough on you mentally and socially, I know how it can get sometimes!
ReplyDeleteHey, Neeral! It’s great to “meet” you. I admire the fact you want to be a dentist- there are so many medically focused people (which is also cool- I’m one of them), but things such as dentistry and pharmacy are often overlooked and are very important as well. I took biochemistry this summer as well so I’m guessing you were in my class! Anyways, I enjoy a lot of the same TV shows and also enjoy “Lie to Me”- have you seen that one? Anyways, have a great rest of your semester!
ReplyDeleteHi Neeral! I think it is awesome that you want to be a dentist! I am actually applying to OT school at the OUHSC this fall, so hopefully I will see you there next year :) It sure sounds like you had a pretty busy summer. My summer was definitely a busy one, I would come home from a trip and leave the very next day for another! I also took two summer classes, but they were in China so it was awesome! I wish you the best of luck on your classes this summer!
ReplyDeleteHello Neeral. Good luck getting into OU's college of dentistry. I want to go to medical school, and am also hoping to go to school the the Health Sciences Center in OKC. I'm from Oklahoma and really like it here, and OKC seems like such a great place to live. Your classes this semester can be challenging, good luck with all that studying!
ReplyDeleteHi Neeral!
ReplyDeleteThat's very cool that you want to be a dentist! Goodluck getting into OU's college of dentistry! You are the first person I've 'met' that is studying pre-dental. That's very interesting. It sounds like you have it all figured out.
Biochem sounds really hard. Howver, I can't do math or science to save my life. Good luck with all of it!
You're gonna have a pretty busy summer. It's always nice to get some classes out of the way between semesters though.
Great to meet you!
quick note - you may want to add a label to your introduction post, I had a hard time finding it.