meredith

MEREDITH


Meredith is a UNH junior majoring in biology. She is following her dreams and applying to medical school. Meredith wants to be an emergency room doctor because she loves the "gory stuff". Not afraid of the hard work associated with becoming a doctor, Meredith sees the challenges as opportunities to learn.


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GETTING HELP IN HIGH SCHOOL


 MAKING THE TRANSITION TO UNH


FOLLOWING YOUR DREAMS


STRATEGIES


FRUSTRATION


LEADERSHIP


BEING DIAGNOSED WITH A LEARNING DISABILITY


GETTING UPDATED TESTING


COURAGE


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GETTING HELP IN HIGH SCHOOL
I hated getting help in high school. I know I needed it but I completely despised it. I felt like people always assumed I needed help even when I didn’t. They didn’t give me the chance to show I could do it. That was really frustrating. Couldn’t I just try it and if it doesn’t work, then I need the help. It was never like that. It was always this is what is best for you. During 6th, 7th and 8th grade, I went along with it. When I hit 10th grade, I became more independent so that when I came to college I could do it for myself. I needed to take what they were saying but not do it word for word. It was me needing to develop my own ways. With people at school I would say, I can do this. I just need the time and opportunity to do it. If I asked a faculty member if I could do it on my own they would respect that.

My junior year in high school was my best year. I had like a 3.8. That was when I was taking Chemistry and harder courses. It was because I developed my own study skills and used them over and over again. Then I got self centered because I was getting all of these good grades. Immediately I wanted to drop all of the help. I thought I didn’t need the help. But then I hit the next year, and I needed more help than the last year but I didn’t want it. By then I had the mindset that I could get through it alone.



MAKING THE TRANSITION TO UNH
When I came here freshman year, I was like, I don’t need anybody. I’m fine! I can do it on my own. The first semester I had an Academic Mentor (at CFAR) but the only reason I did it was I knew it would make my mom feel better. I had no intention this was going to help me and that this was what I need. I wanted to do it myself. I ended up getting Bs and Cs! That is pretty good. The Academic Mentor was someone to talk to each week.  The second semester, I didn’t have one and I crashed. I realized that was a mistake. I didn’t realize how helpful it was. I took a giant leap then. I had not been ready to be independent at college. I needed to know I could do it by myself but I also needed to realize that I couldn’t.

Academic Mentors are ridiculously wonderful! I totally feel a connection with Shannon who I have worked with all year. It just feels so nice to hear encouragement from someone. I have had so many bad days before I go in to see her, and then I go in and am in tears and she tells me I can do it. I just failed another exam and she says you know you just have to keep working at it. You have to keep trying. You can do it. If you couldn’t do it, I would tell you. It keeps me motivated.



FOLLOWING YOUR DREAMS
I have always been clear that if I like something and I have a dream for it, then I am going to do it. I have a passion for science and for biology and I really can’t ignore that.  I spend extra hours in the lab doing dissections just for fun. When I had my knee surgery I asked if I could watch it. Last summer, I volunteered at a hospital. I went through all of the departments and got to do exercises with patients in speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy. Going there, you really see what kind of environment you will be working in and if you are going to be able to handle it. I realized that I really want to be in this environment. I want to be an ER doctor. It is everything I want. I love challenges. I love people and I love being in the moment. I want to do the gory stuff!



STRATEGIES
I took Genetics with three other really hard courses and that was a stupid thing for me to do. When someone talked to me about just taking 3 courses, I said no I can take on a fourth. Well we all know what happened; I got a D in Genetics.  I had to learn for myself. Yes, my grades brought my GPA (grade point average) down and I had to repeat two courses. I learned from that mistake and I fixed it. The plan this semester was to take just three courses, but I picked up a forth because I knew I could do it. The three courses were really easy for me. I knew I could drop one class if it was a big problem. I am getting through the semester with As and Bs. It is a lot of work and with three courses, it would be less work but I am getting good grades. Next year when I take Organic Chemistry which will be extremely hard for me, then I will take just three courses. I will lighten my load. I have learned how to make the best schedule for me.



FRUSTRATION
School is frustrating about 80% of the time. I’m worried all the time about it but I have a lot of support from my friends. Most of them know I have a learning disability. I am pretty open about it. They ask questions and I answer them. My friends understand how upset I get when I fail an exam. They know what a high achiever I am and how those grades affect me. Their words of encouragement are really helpful. There has never been a situation when I didn’t have someone to talk to.  



LEADERSHIP
Getting into an organization was hard for me. When I first joined the ski club, I wouldn’t talk to anyone. I was scared. When my roommate decided not to be part of it any more, I decided I could take advantage of this and meet new people. There was a meeting where you could put your name in to be on the Executive Board. That day I met everyone and it felt great. I knew I wanted to hang out with these people. I can be a follower but I like leadership. I like being an authority figure. People can ask me questions and I know the answers. It helps to balance out the academics where it is hard for me to answer questions. If I didn’t have any leadership positions, I wouldn’t feel as good about myself as I do.



BEING DIAGNOSED WITH A LEARNING DISABILITY
 I was diagnosed in 5th grade. I knew something was wrong. The fact that it took me four hours to get through one assignment was not right! I would stay up so late trying to get homework done; I had to finish. It wasn’t supposed to be that hard at such a young age.

 By seventh grade we determined that I needed help. I needed to learn things a different way. I had to go after school for teachers to show me how to break things down because I didn’t understand the assignment.  It was sad; I just wanted to go home after school. By freshman year of high school I started to hate school. I needed to take charge of things.

It is important at some point to say I am going to do this by myself. And if I fail, that is okay. I will just have to work with that. Being independent is important. I wouldn’t have gotten this far if I hadn’t had that support in the beginning but I don’t think getting help the whole time is beneficial. There is going to be a time when you are going to need to be on your own. I think you need to take that challenge.



GETTING UPDATED TESTING
I got retested last summer. The last time I had been tested was early high school so I was curious to see how far I had come. Being retested was a little like being back in that classroom in sixth grade. It was hard for me. But then I saw pages of strengths and only a few weaknesses. Seeing all those strengths really made me feel good. After all those weaknesses growing up, it was nice to see only two weaknesses now. The only accommodations from Access I need are extra time and professors being
available to help me.



COURAGE
Sometimes challenges aren’t the best thing for me because they are overwhelming. But I love them! I need them! I have to take the MCAT (tests to get into medical school) eventually. I could be really scared about it. Or I could go in and take it, knowing that I can take it again, knowing that I can fix my mistakes the second time around. You don’t know what the outcome will be until you do it. You just don’t know.

I have failed a lot at different things. But I have come to realize that you are going to fail or you are going to succeed. You don’t know until you do something. I have come far from those failures. I have to be proud of that and focus on how I have succeeded. That is what keeps me motivated. I am not done yet!
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