Appreciation, Niceness, and Generosity – Why Being Kind is Best

Joshua Liu — Fri, 07 May 2010 06:42:29 +0100

Last night I was at dinner with a couple of friends. A good friend of mine from class was sitting across from me, and at one point, the topic of generosity came up. The discussion helped elucidate a concept that I’ve always believed, but never really put onto paper, so I guess now is a good enough time than ever.

So I think I know why my marks have dropped...

Joshua Liu — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 08:57:41 +0100

So I'm happy to say that I passed my Brain and Behaviour midterm - barely, with a 70.96 (a 70 is a clear pass). It was a pretty difficult midterm, with a bell ringer for neuroanatomy in the morning and then a written exam in the afternoon.

It's funny how easily I went from not only wanting and getting 80's and 90's in undergrad to hoping I get a 70 in medical school. For the most part, I don't think the material is any harder, and often times it's actually easier. Read More...

Hidden Luck

Joshua Liu — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 09:51:55 +0100

Luck, variance, randomness - whatever you want to call it, it has an undeniable influence on the course of events.

Taking a simple case, you get lucky when your medical school interview is conducted by a physician who turns out to be life long buddies with one of your referees, or perhaps you get unlucky when you realize your interviewer and you are complete opposites.

Or maybe you were lucky (in the way that I was) to only have two organic chemistry passages on yourRead More...

So I went to the doctor today...

Joshua Liu — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 03:08:47 +0100

...to get a referral.

I got the referral, but also left with a splint on my pinky finger and a form to get an X-ray done tomorrow morning.

I have a bump on the distal interphalangeal joint and the tip of the pinky remains bent downward.

I hope it's a mallet finger and not early signs of osteoarthritis... fortunately there isn't any pain or inflammation, so I guess it's unlikely to be osteoarthritis.

Here's a photo of a mallet finger... I'd rather not post photos ofRead More...

Gotta Give Props

Joshua Liu — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 23:00:43 +0100

I'm all about giving credit where credit is due, and I have to say that UofCalgary's medical school made the best interview weekend video I've ever seen this year.

Check it out:

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETrQvZ_fHT4 560x340]

This is such a cool Master's program

Joshua Liu — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 22:49:40 +0100

I was reading about the courses in Harvard's Masters of Science in Health Care Management program and it just screamed awesome to me.

If you read my where do I see myself in 10 years reflection, you'd remember that solving problems in our health care system outside my own future clinical practice is something that I'm interested in.

The schedule is pretty sick too. A few weeks each summer, several 4-day weekends per year, and then bam, you've learned a ton of cool, relevant sRead More...

Those who Can't Do, Teach - Why? And when is this False?

Joshua Liu — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:40:28 +0100

I don't know who said it first, and to me it sadly seems like to suggest a rather negative intention when spoken, but the phrase "those who can't do, teach" is quite common and as someone who genuinely enjoys teaching and sharing what I know, see it as a phrase that can actually lead to some valuable insight.

I think the original intention of the phrase was to suggest that teachers are those incapable of doing - for who in their right mind would rather coach, say, Sydney Crosby insteadRead More...

Day 2 of Brain and Behaviour

Joshua Liu — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:22:08 +0100

I can't write Day 1 because I already failed and didn't blog yesterday. Guess this is harder than I thought (actually that's not true, I expected it to be hard).

I have to say that so far I'm enjoying Brain and Behaviour (B&B) more than the other topics we have covered in medical school so far. I'm not particularly surprised, considering that neurology is one of the few reasons I went into medical school in the first place.

They did a nice job of easing us into tRead More...

Reunion, Reflection, and Time for a Change

Joshua Liu — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 05:47:56 +0100

Yesterday there was a reunion for Toronto MacShad 2005 alumni, with about six of us in total. I don't think I had seen many of them in a super long time, despite many of us not being too far away from each other, and quite a few of us relatively close, in fact. They are all fantastic people, and I had an awesome time, and wish I had reconnected a lot sooner. Shad has introduced me to so many great people and opened a lot of doors for me, I really can't be grateful enouRead More...

My Thoughts on Admissions Consulting

Joshua Liu — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:31:17 +0100

While I had previously written a brief post on admissions consulting and why there was nothing inherently wrong with it, I feel a need to write a more complete article on it and examine the issue on a deeper level.

Before I begin, let my begin by saying that I have essentially done consulting for scholarship, awards, undergraduate admissions, and medical school admissions for numerous individuals, both friends and even complete strangers. I have never asked for a single penny froRead More...

The Fear of Failure and Why You Need to Stop Being Afraid to Lose

Joshua Liu — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:01:24 +0100

I think far too often in too many things we focus on just one side of the coin. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be counter productive if you're looking at the side that prevents you from succeeding, and succeeding big.

While I don't have any specific role models that I look up to, one of the things I have come to admire are people who are masters of their trade - those considered "great" in their respective fields.

One of the things I have come to realizRead More...

Why GPA Should Matter and Learning the Way You Learn Best

Joshua Liu — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 19:10:34 +0100

This past Monday I took my Metabolism and Nutrition mid-term (I think I passed...) As usual (and as expected) the weekend was a major cram session, and I finally turned into bed at 4 am (where I proceeded to roll around in bed with my mind constructing random thoughts about hypokalemia which made no sense whatsoever). Basically my whole weekend was spent between phases of studying and whining about studying.

In undergrad, I usually only spent one or two days studying for a Read More...

Today was a Pretty Good Day

Joshua Liu — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 08:12:18 +0100

I have to say that today has been a pretty good day. Only had three hours of class, and the professors today were actually good. I think I space out in class more than anyone (e.g. I don't think during class and mindlessly take notes unless the lecturer is really good and/or the material is particularly interesting).

For someone like me, today's main professor did everything right. First, he had all of the important points listed in his notes. It really gets on Read More...

So I Shadowed a Neurologist this Week

Joshua Liu — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:55:52 +0100

Last fall I went to a talk run by the UofT Internal Medicine Club and at the end of the session there were sign ups for medical students interested in being matched for a shadowing experience with physicians from various non-surgical specialties. I can't remember what specialties I wrote down, I think it was internal medicine as a first choice (e.g. general internist) and then neurology as a second choice. I wasn't really thinking too much at the time.

Well I got hookedRead More...

Where Do I See Myself in 10 Years?

Joshua Liu — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 10:22:10 +0100

This past Wednesday our first year medical school class was given our final lecture on Management for the year, along with the assignment of producing a one page document that shows where we see ourselves in 10 years (and considering that most of the lecture was about career planning as future physicians, I’d guess they want us to have some sort of focus on where we see ourselves fitting into medicine). There’s a ton of flexibility with this assignment (I know Mike made something Read More...

Lunch with Alex

Joshua Liu — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 08:44:42 +0100

On Monday I had lunch with Alex Shipillo, a good friend of mine who is very smart, driven, and talented, and whom I always have good discussions with and learn a lot from. The funny thing about my friendship with Alex is that I had talked with him and formed a friendship before we had even met in person (no, it wasn't E-harmony).

Alex and I both attended Shad Valley the same summer, but at different programs, but one of his best friends attended Shad Valley at McMaster with mRead More...

What's up with premed altruism and nobility?

Joshua Liu — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 08:23:01 +0100

As I have mentioned many times before, I feel like our education system was developed with altruism and nobility at its core. I have seen it all the way from elementary school to undergraduate university (though obviously much less so at higher levels at education). While I think it’s nice that we’re taught to do “good” things, I think it is very problematic when this obsession with an ideal world clouds our ability to think rationally and critically. One of the most cRead More...

End of the 1st Semester of Medical School

Joshua Liu — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 04:14:26 +0100

I sit here typing this relaxed and in a pretty darn good mood. Although my first semester of medical school actually finished last Thursday, I've been too busy/lazy to actually sit down and write anything.

I think this is the first Christmas break in a while where I haven't really felt any stress or guilt whatsoever, and I guess most, if any of the stress, I've had previously was due to school. Even if not stress, just things like worries or concerns. In high scRead More...

So I had my clinical skills exam today…

Joshua Liu — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:37:34 +0100

As I mentioned previously, one of the courses I take in medical school is the Arts and Science of Clinical Medicine (ASCM I) where we learn basic clinical skills. So far this year we learned to take patient history, vital signs (heart/respiratory rate and blood pressure), and some physical exams (precordial, peripheral vascular). Next semester we will learn more physical exams like neurological, abdomen, etc.

For this first ASCM exam, we were evaluated on takingRead More...

Roller Coaster of a Day

Joshua Liu — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 06:41:39 +0100

Okay not really much of a roller coaster, but definitely some ups and downs - sort of.

This morning I did my last anatomy dissection ever. We looked at the posterior part of the forearm and dorsal part of the hand (i.e. the back of the arm from the forearm to the fingers). Being able to see all of the muscles and their tendons, and essentially knowing how the arm and hand works mechanically was pretty cool.

It was cool until I cut myself with the scalpel Read More...

Blog entries from Joshua Liu