Kathrine

Thank you for joining me today. To start, would you mind introducing yourself, your field of study, and how you would explain it to someone who's never heard of it before?

David

Yeah, my name is David. I'm currently majoring in biology. And basically, to the people that haven't maybe heard about it, it's a field where you study basically how life works or maybe even how people get sick or figuring out how to increase, how to improve the quality of life in a very molecular level.

Kathrine

Are you leaning towards any specific area such as molecular biology, ecology, like neuroscience, genetics, or medicine?

David

Oh, yes, definitely. I'm thinking of medicine because I feel very fulfilling how how I can apply the knowledge I learned in class to really help people and build relationships.

Kathrine

So how's the biology that you've studied in college different from what you've studied in high school?

David

I think in terms of like class structure, it's definitely for the quizzes and tests. I remember in high school, I used to have a very, um, I think there was like weekly quizzes. So like, the tests were very, very often, while in college, they mainly focus on midterms and finals.

So there's less, definitely less often. But those tests are way much greater than high school. So yeah, I think there's a lot of pressure in like, getting good grades.

Yeah.

Kathrine

So thinking back, was there a specific class, project, camp, or other experience that first made you interested in biology?

David

Oh, yeah, I remember during junior summer, I participated in Cornell summer program, teaching molecular biology. And there I remember learning about what's actually going on in this world, these days, in the field of biology and the professor was really trying to push us to apply the in class knowledge to really uh, to the real world. And I thought that was very fulfilling.

Also, I, we collaborated with different students that I first got to met for the first time. We were given like, for example, scenarios and we had to find out the solution, working together. And I thought that was pretty cool.

And yeah, there, I really learned that biology wasn't just was very applicable. Yeah.

Kathrine

Um, so can you describe the most memorable project or problem that you've worked on, or are currently working on?

David

Um, yeah, to talk about high school, I, I was able to participate in research project with a professor in college. And it was really memorable because I remember really learning. I remember reading scientific, test scientific papers, like for the first time.

Um, they were very challenging. And I remember spending like three, four hours a day to like, really, you know, figure out different jargons on and make like connections between papers, different papers to really, um, make it into my own paper. So it was very challenging, which made it also very rewarding.

Kathrine

Um, next, can you tell me about what you do in your favorite major related class at college?

David

Um, sorry, you said what I do in my major related class in college? Um, I, yeah, we're still like in class. There's, yeah, class class wise, I think it's not too different from high school.

Besides the fact that there are a lot more people on. So I go to class and take notes. Yeah, ask questions.

Sometimes it does get difficult because there are a lot of people and yeah, professors are busy. Um, but yeah, and then if there are midterms or finals, I study for those. Um, yeah, I some often form like a study sessions with my classmates.

Yeah.

Kathrine

Um, in your major, is there a lot of time to be able to do things in the lab?

David

Oh, sorry, you said lab?

Kathrine

Yeah.

David

Oh, I think for my case, specifically in my first year, I didn't really, um, get to participate in a lab. Um, I think it was because usually in freshman year, um, people are enrolled in, uh, general like lower division class where you, uh, learn the basic knowledge of that field, um, that will help you, uh, in later, more complex and, uh, more difficult classes where there may be more like hands-on, uh, uh, lab classes. Yeah.

Kathrine

So what is one thing that has surprised you the most about biology?

David

Oh, one thing that really surprised me the most was, um, sometimes, uh, it's how I learned that it's more qualitative than quantitative. Um, yes. And, uh, yeah.

Um, but I also learned that, um, there can be many, uh, complex problems, um, uh, that you can, uh, face in the field. Um, um, yeah. Um, and also I learned that, um, I may be more interested in, uh, qualitative methods, uh, from learning biology.

Kathrine

So if you could go back, what advice would you give to your ninth grade self?

David

If I could go back, uh, academically, um, I would tell myself to just keep, uh, facing, uh, challenging classes. Um, don't be satisfied with, uh, problems that you can easily solve, um, but also, but really, um, you know, try to push the boundary, whether that be through, um, personal projects or taking more rigorous courses in school, um, or really, uh, trying to research, uh, what's out there to really, uh, where you can really apply your field into the real world.

Kathrine

Yeah. And finally, what is one step a student can take right now to explore biology?

David

I think, uh, learning can be often limited, uh, just in class. So I would definitely advise students to really, uh, seek out, uh, outside the class. Um, for example, they can, uh, during summer, uh, their interest in biology, they can, uh, enroll in college, uh, college program, um, where they can meet different students interested in the field and the professor that is really, um, working in that, uh, professional field.

Um, uh, and in, in those, uh, types of programs, they can really, uh, I think they can really build, uh, connections. So I think it's really valuable.

Kathrine

Okay. So that's all my questions. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experiences.

And I really appreciate it.

David

Yeah, no problem. Yeah. Um, if you have any more questions, feel free to email.

Kathrine

Okay. Thank you.