Cameron Houchmand, a Peer Mentor and fifth year ISCI student integrating Pharmacology and Physiology sat down with ISSA's very own, Megan, to talk about the Peer Mentorship Program, doing a five year Honours Degree and some tips for ISCI students. M: What is something that you enjoy about being a Peer Mentor?
C: My favourite part is being able to connect with fellow ISCI students. It can be kind of difficult to connect with ISCI students especially since we’re so spread out with our integrations. This position really allowed me to get more connected within the ISCI department. I love being able to pass on what I’ve learned to other students and being able to mitigate some of the challenges that I came across and it’s super rewarding. M: I noticed when I started my degree, so many people help me out. It takes a village. Now I want to be able to help younger students and give them all the help that was given to me. C: Totally! One of the biggest things that I really enjoyed was last year when I was able to calm people’s nerves about certain courses. A big misconception for example, is if you’re doing a Physiology integration, is that people get worried about fourth year CAPS courses. I can genuinely say that fourth year CAPS seemed “easier” than third year because they really just test more logic rather than your memorization skills. So instead of having to remember one tiny detail about one pathway, there would be a question asking you to describe the pathway in general. I found those types of questions really fair. When I had my first test in [fourth year] CAPS, I realized “Wow, this is so much better than what I was anticipating.” M: What was one of your fears/concerns going into ISCI and how did you deal with that fear? C: I definitely had fears and concerns. I was someone who was lucky and knew what I wanted to do. I guess in terms of fears it concerns it was more in terms of “don’t screw anything up.” It was really helpful that I actually had a peer mentor. It was actually one of the reasons that I applied to this job and she was really kind and good at helping me calm down about a lot of things. Because the staff in the ISCI department are so helpful and approachable, it really helps as well. If they weren’t like that, it would be terrifying. You would feel so alone but because they’re so supportive, it’s not as scary as some people make it out to be. It’s funny when I look back at a lot of the concerns I had and I just wonder why those things stressed me out so much. M: What is something you would suggest prospective ISCI students research/look at prior to applying to the program? C: I feel like my perspective is biased because from my own experience I would say to know pretty well what you want to do coming into the program. But that being said, there’s so many students that didn’t really know what they wanted do and ended up figuring it out and still came out with great degrees. I would say, it’s really good to have some time management skills coming into the program. As you know there’s a lot of different deadlines, especially in second year, associated with finding a mentor and submitting your proposal. Having some sort of system where you’re able to manage your time effectively is really important prior to coming in. Also, knowing about some of the limitations that the program inherently has regarding lab courses. A lot of people don’t know this, but lab courses are really hard to get into. You don’t necessarily need lab courses if you want to go into research. I highly recommend doing a directed studies. That, in my opinion, would give you better lab experience than doing lab courses. So if you are someone who wants to go into research, ISCI is still a really great option. M: What is something you liked about doing an Honours degree? C: There’s a number of things that I liked. I liked that it really showed me my ability to manage a graduate level’s workload. I did a lot of hours in the lab and maintained a full time course load, which was stressful at times. But, now looking back and realizing I was able to do that successfully, it's a huge relief and it showed me that I can pursue something if I set my mind to it. M: How was doing a 5 year degree? C: I did a fifth year because I finished my fourth year and it was a lot. I felt accomplished after but I also felt tired because I'd done four years and a heavy course load. I didn't want to graduate with resentment about the workload because I really love my degree, so now I’m taking all the electives I want and treating my fifth year has a victory lap. It’s a breath of fresh air. M: That’s a great way to put it! C: One thing that I’ll add about taking a fifth year is that I had the option to graduate and come back unclassified or take the fifth year. If you decide to graduate and come back unclassified, you’re the lowest priority for picking classes, whereas, if you come back as a fifth year, you hold a fourth year standing on SSC and would get the same priority as other fourth years. Another thing is that if you do a fifth year and fail one of your electives, if you’re an honours student, you would become demoted from your honours degree. That’s just something to keep in mind if you plan on taking a more difficult class M: What is something you didn’t like about doing an Honours degree? C: Looking back, the things I didn’t like were very surface level. Stuff like the workload, like your average complaints. Overall, I can only say positive things about it. Don’t get me wrong, it was very difficult, I won’t sugarcoat it, but, if you’re someone that likes a challenge or likes to push yourself, it’s a great opportunity. M: Since you did a physiology degree and physiology is becoming increasingly popular, are there any physiology courses you would recommend? C: I would say to really pick an interesting course that you care about. I took Renal Physiology which a lot of people don’t like but because my job is in kidney transplant research I enjoyed it and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I also took CAPS 424 which I thought was an amazing course, which was endocrine physiology. I also took some neurophysiology courses like bio-psyc which is PSYC 304. I would heavily recommend that course because it was really interesting. This course in particular is actually an honorary science course, so even though it’s technically an arts course, you get Science credits. I would also recommend CAPS 301 over taking a combination of 390 and 391 because it gives you a better overall understanding of physiology. You can find a list of Honorary Science Courses here: https://intsci.ubc.ca/advising/curriculum-requirements#Honorary%20Science%20Courses Overall Curriculum Requirements can be found here: https://intsci.ubc.ca/advising/curriculum-requirements More Information About the Peer Mentorship Program as well as their Office Hours and Contact Information can be found here: https://intsci.ubc.ca/advising/peer-mentoring-program
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January 2022
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