MY PRESENT, FUTURE, AND BEYOND

By: Brittany Peters

MISSION STATEMENT"Failure is just a temporary change in direction to set you

straight on the path to success"

-Anonymous

When I stumbled upon this quote it really resonated inside my soul and dropped anchor. I have always been my own worst enemy by struggling with the idea of perfection. Ever since a little kid every project had to be perfect, every A had to be an A+. This is not a light burden to put on myself. My intrinsic strive for perfection was the forbidden fruit, and I Eve. True to the story, this forbidden fruit lead to my demise. I reached a point where I was defeated, but this quote epitomizes the attitude that turned everything around. While I believe that this will be a struggle for me for my whole life I have faith that keeping this statement in my mind will empower me. I’ve learned know that life is about living, loving, and experiencing everything you possibly can without looking back; life is take all failures as only temporary changes in direction.

CAREER GOAL

My plan is to become a Neurosurgeon with a major in Neurobiology.

SALARY STATISTICS

West East South Midwest$0

$100,000

$200,000

$300,000

$400,000

$500,000

$600,000

$700,000

$800,000

$900,000

OverallSingle SpecialtyMultipspecialty

CURRENT JOB OPENINGS

Was

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ton

Mon

tana

Califo

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Texa

s02468

1012141618

Number of openings

Number of open-ings

SPECIALIZING AND FELLOWSHIPS In the medical field there are general

areas of study i.e. General Surgery that cover a broad spectrum of ailments. When a doctor specialize they choose a subdivision of an area

Surgery Neurosurgery

Then within that specialty there are fellowships. Fellowships are super-specialties

Neurosurgery Spinal Neurosurgical care

SHORT TERM GOALS Graduate High School with a 3.7 GPA Turn 18 !! (: Receive my acceptance letter to UW Choose the college that I am going to

attend (PLU, Whitworth,or UW) Complete the Majors Biology series with

a cumulative GPA of 3.9

MEDIUM TERM GOALS Stay in the dorms at college for 2 years Find a new job in the area of the college

and work for the last 2 years of my undergraduate major

Apply and get accepted to medical schools

Take 6 months to focus solely on the MCATs

Take the MCATs, do well!

LONG TERM GOALS Graduate medical schools Travel the world with the organization

Doctors Without Boarders Get married and have at least 4 kids,

raise kids in Maui, Hawaii Make breakthroughs in research to help

those with chemical dependency problems

DEPENDABLE STRENGTHS Good listener Problem solver Good communicator Environmentalist Researcher Scientific Inventive Great people skills Creative Self disciplined

EDUCATIONAL PLANAttend the University of Washington to finish my undergraduate degree in Neurobiology and then apply to medical schools, this would take two more years. Then I will attend medical school for four years and then graduate with an MD in Neurobiology. Following graduation I will enter a residency which last 3-9 years depending on specialty. Finally I could join a fellowship which is super specializing in a specific area of the Neuro field. Also it is important to note that doctors are never done with their education. It is the responsibility of a great doctor to stay always informed of new medications, treatments, and surgeries. The rapid pace of the medical field demands no less than continuing education.

OLYMPIC COLLEGE DEGREE AUDIT AS TRACK 1Credits: 90 needed 89 applied

Basic Communication

10 needed 10 applied

Basic Quantitative Skills

15 needed 10 applied

Humanities and Social Sciences

15 needed 10 applied

Primary Required Sciences

34 needed 32.5 applied

Additional Sciences and Mathematics

10 needed 1.5 applied

Remaining Credits 0 needed 20 applied

Restricted Electives

0 needed 5 applied

PACIFIC LUTHERAN UNIVERSITYPros Cons

Sister is there Doesn’t have my desired major

Great Science departments Not in the best location

68% Medical School Acceptance rate (double national average)

Close to home

Mom is an alum

Great financial aid package

J term

WHITWORTH UNIVERSITY Pros Cons

Beautiful campus Farther away

Best Friend will be there Didn’t get the best financial aid from them

J term Doesn’t have my desired major

Family close by

In a good location (downtown Spokane)

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTONPros Cons

Major that I really want

Smaller overall costs of attendance

In the city

Sister goes here

I LOVE the campus

All three of the schools that I am interested in offer different strengths and weaknesses. At this moment in time I am set on attending UW but there is always the off chance of not being accepted. If this were to occur I know that I have two other great private schools that have accepted me. These two universities show great promise for my path into the medical field even though I would have to make some compromises i.e. my desired major

CREDIT TRANSFER EQUIVALENCY Olympic College University of Washington

ENGL& 101 ENGL 131 (C)

MATH& 141 MATH 120 (NW)

PEFSP 132 E 1XX (Limited Credit)

PYSC& 100 PYSCH 101 (I&S)

ENGL& 102 ENGL 182 (C)

HIST& 136 HISTAA 101 (I&S)

MATH& 142 MATH 120 (NW)

CHEM& 139 No Credit

HIST& 137 HISTAA 101 (I&S)

MATH& 151 MATH 124 (NW)

BIOL 201 BIOL 180 (NW)

CHEM& 141 CHEM 142 (NW)

CREDIT TRANSFER CNTD.Olympic College University of Washington

CHEM& 151 MATH 125 (NW)

MATH& 152 MATH 125 (NW)

PE-ED 105 KINPE 1XX Limited Credit

BIOL 202 BIOL 200 (NW)

CHEM& 142 CHEM 152 (NW)

CHEM& 152 CHEM 152 (NW)

GEN-S 130 No Credit

GEN-S 140 No Credit

BIOL 203 BIOL 220 (NW)

CHEM& 143 CHEM 153 (NW)

CHEM& 143 CHEM 153 (NW)

NEUROBIOLOGY COURSE LOAD

Major Requirements Courses

Chemistry (15 credits minimum):Chem 142,152 or 144,154 and Chem 223,224

Physics (8 credits minimum):Phys 114,115

Mathematics (10 credits minimum): Math 124,125

Biology (15 credits minimum): Biology 180, 200, 220

Introduction to Neurobiology (10 credits): Nbio 301, 302

Advanced courses in Neurobiology (12 credits): Nbio 401, 402, 403, 404

Advanced Electives (16 credits): Any approved 300/400 level natural science course. Associated lab courses may be taken and count toward the 16 credit total. Students may apply up to 7 credits of Undergraduate Research toward the 16 elective credits.

Key:Red= Complete Black= Not Complete

NEUROBIOLOGY CNTD. Considering a two year degree is 90

credits and I have completed 40 of the required credits for my major, I believe that I am on track to finish the major requirements in four quarters and then the other two quarters will offer room for any GURs(general undergraduate requirements) that I might not have fulfilled in Running Start

FINANCIAL PLAN I plan to pay for college in four ways: Saved Money,

Grants, Loans, and Work study. I have been saving money for the past year by working

three jobs, two babysitting and a sales associate, to give myself a head start on my first payment to the college of my choice

Grants: are amounts of money that are given to a student and are NOT required to be paid back

Loans: amounts of money that are give to students that must be paid back Payments start approximately 6 – 12 months after

graduation Work Study: is a program that is offered to some

students which allows them to work on campus and earn part of the money to keep and the other part goes to pay back the federal government

COSTS PER YEAR

First 2 years

Med School

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

18,000

Tuition and FeesBooksPersonal ExpensesTransportationRoom and Board

Total Per Year (Undergrad) : $24,009

Total Per Year(Medical) : $29,625

COST AFTER RECEIVING MD

After 6 years of col-lege

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

Tuition and FeesBooksPersonal ExpensesTransportationRoom and Board

Disclaimer: All money statistics are based off of current costs, therefore , as they always do, prices will go up resulting in a larger total

Grand Total: $166,518

THE END“In life it’s not about what we can make ourselves become but rather grooming ourselves to be the best version of who

we already are; that is the true challenge”-Brittany Peters

Thank You!

BIBLIOGRAPHY University of Washington.Web. 23 Feb. 2012. Education.costhelper.com.Web. 23 Feb. 2012. Wikipedia.Web. 20 Feb. 2012. EMEDHIRE. Web. 24 Feb. 2012.

http://www.emedhire.com/neurosurgeon_corner.asp

Jobshadow. 21 Feb. 2012. http://www.jobshadow.com/interview- with-a-neurosurgeon/

Pacific Lutheran University. Web. 25 Feb. 2012. Whitworth University. Web. 27 Feb. 2012