Eps 4 - Staying Passionate: University of Washington Sophomore Balances Science and Music

in order to be prepared for higher education we need to take a glimpse into the World Through The Eyes of those living it hi I'm your host ashraa cul I have questions about the future which is why I am going to Deep dive into the journeys of college students and graduates exploring the majors and paths they've chosen welcome to scholar Stories the podcast where we bring you practical advice and inspiring [Music] stories in this episode we're joined by prati Barat a remarkable sophomore at the University of Washington studying Neuroscience a graduate from St Francis High School in Mountain View California pry brings a diverse set of talents to the table from tennis to both vocal and in instrumental music she has earned multiple Awards internationally acclaimed ktic music competitions since her freshman year of high school she has actively engaged in numerous internships and research projects I'm eager to explore the Journey of her experiences and achievements join me in welcoming prati [Applause] hi I'm so excited to be here thanks for having me ASA of course can you begin by defining Neuroscience for our listeners and could you walk us through your journey to choosing this field was it a longstanding interest or did something specific in high school spark your passion in Neuroscience yes for sure so I think Neuroscience put super simply can be defined as the study of the nervous system the brain the spine and everything in between that in terms of their structure their function from their development to their degeneration and in health and in disease so in terms of like my journey to choosing it as a major I've always really been interested in science that was my favorite subject all through Elementary in middle school and I really in particular enjoyed biology you know I really grew up like looking forward to science fairs every single year and so on and so forth so when I got to high school I took an intro site class in my sophomore year and I really enjoyed the portions especially relating to like neurons and the brain and the spine and when I took AP Psychology the following year we went into a lot more depth as a class on those units and I came to learn that there was a whole major dedicated to his study which is what kind of you know inspired me to pursue it as a major yeah I also also love science and the science fair projects every year so speaking of Neuroscience the Neuroscience program at the University of Washington is very competitive only accepting 15% of applicants each year how were you able to get in and how has your experience been on the program oh yeah I'm very very grateful to attend the University of Washington it's been super an an amazing experience attending the past year I think in terms of getting in there's unfortunately just not one story everyone's story is super different but I think in terms of your application try and have a well-rounded one um I talked about a whole set of extracurriculars in addition to what I did in school and also trying to further my passion for the subject throughout High School bya various summer programs I did or just like taking more science specific APS at school to kind of show just my passion for the subject I'd say um and so far my experience in the program has been nothing short of amazing and I'm just so grateful for all the amazing faculty and staff at UDA and also the school's general focus on Research which is one of the main reasons that I chose to go in addition to the Neuroscience program also part of uh of a research project at udub so it's been amazing so far you were very well-rounded and it's amazing that you're having a great time there and I just wanted to ask compared to California is Washington and that area cold or rainy it's definitely pretty rainy especially during the winter months didn't mind it at all during the fall and the spring the seasons are really pronounced so it's super pretty but um definitely rain to Winter yeah yeah I'm sure it would be beautiful but speaking of programs at your college I know that you are are a member of the Washington Chapter of the P Delta Epsilon International Medical fraternity what is it and how did you get that opportunity yeah so as you mentioned uh Fon Epsilon or f e it's an a co-ed International Medical fraternity and basically in order to become a part of V you have to go through what's called The Rush process which I would say around maybe 3 weeks to a month all in all you basically have to start off by attending large events to learn about the fraternity before you even start to rush after which you go through group interviews and then one-on-one interviews and then you are eventually selected to join the fraternity um and in terms of what the fraternity entails there was a lot of like philanthropy efforts which is what drew me to it we got we get to do a lot of fundraisers for Seattle Childrens which is our local hospital and we also through it are able to find volunteering opportunities research opportunities and the likes I think overall it serves with it served to provide me with a wonderful community of people especially being an out ofate student and not really having many seniors in medicine that I can look up to it's provided me with people I can ask about classes that I want to take or just about you know general premat questions so I really really enjoyed being a part of it so far it's great that you found a community that you could that you can rely on so other than College music has been an integral part of your life it is inspiring to see how you are still learning and teaching m music to young kids like me in your spare time you also volunteer at organizations like CCC that promote kontic music how did that experience shape you and are there any programs at your college that help you to continue kontic music yeah this is a really really good question but a pretty loaded one so I guess I'll start with the uh first part of that which is kind of how kontic music has shaped me I think starting at such a young age I started when I was like four years old and so there's a lot to be said about just a discipline that comes with being a student of ktic music I think sitting down to practice for long durations of time at you know four or 5 years old was definitely not an easy task but over the years I definitely built up that discipline and I think I can carry that over to multiple areas of my life even outside of music I think that's a very important takeaway um and furthermore getting to teach has just been like one of the best opportunities I could possibly have asked for and I have my teachers at sha Academy to thank for that uh I've always really liked working with kids but there's a lot to be learned when you teach you really have to internalize material that you teach at a much higher level that when you you know than when you initially learn it so that you are able to S you know teach that to another set of people and so it really helped me to internalize my music further and to realize truly how passionate I am about it I started to TA when I was about 9 or 10 years old and I think it was very fundamental in shaping me organ in organizations like CCC srfa there are so many across the bay area that promote ktic music to youth like me you know it's really really we have to be super grateful for that Community because I think in terms of just developing My overall confidence not even just as a student in music just in general it's been really huge when you have to get up on stage by yourself and you have to present what you've learned it can be really nerve-wracking especially when you're like six seven years old but from like a 5 minute little concert slot to a 20 minute slot to a 30 minute slot to an hour and a half slot building that I think it really goes to show that when you work hard towards an art over many years you can really see how that comes to fruition when you get more and more confident I really look forward to my conerts now and I started off being very very terrified of getting on stage so I think I have those organizations to make and just in terms of My overall confidence I think it's really shaped me and for the last part of that question um I am part of a South Asian fusion AC capella team at udub it's called udub elas and it's a competitive team and we sing everything from pop to Bollywood to kontic Fusion kind of music and it's definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone a little bit I never really say Bollywood before college but having a kontic base which a lot of um people on the team have a kontic foundation in their training I think it really helps you to relate to other forms of music and gain somewhat of an understanding a little quicker um because of how Nuance it is so yeah that but you I answer to that I know that you are an an amazing teacher and I've learned so many songs from your learning modules and it's great that you can continue because you're I always look forward to watching you performing on stage speaking of your teaching experiences you were also a summer camp counselor for a month at St Francis your high school for high schoolers wanting to do something similar did you teach students and how did you get the opportunity yeah so I worked as a summer camp counselor at St Francis it was like a summer job and it was awesome honestly I love working with kids then working with kids as a teacher assistant at my music school since I was 9 or 10 like I said so I've always really enjoyed that experience and I grew up playing tennis and Just Sports in general were a big part of my life growing up so I really saw that opportunity to combine new things I'd love and yeah I I coach students uh in various different sports which was just such a fun time um I got that opportunity just by talking to coaching staff at St Francis I kind of knew that this was a camp and program that they did every single year and I was really interested in getting involved so I think if you're a high schooler wanting to do something similar don't be afraid to just reach out to you know stop at your high school that you know is involved and just express interest and you never know where you to go from there yeah that's a great way to get opportunities and you said that you were very involved in sports throughout your life and I know that you were on the women's Varsity tennis team at your high school which is so cool did you spend a lot of time practicing and competing in tournaments I'd love to hear about some of your accomplishments on the team and if you're still playing tennis in college yeah so as I said just now like sports tennis was such a huge part of my life growing up I started playing when I was about four years old and my passion and love for the sport only GW over time I competed really um frequently like every single weekend I was at a tournament and I played at the Northern California Section championships I played representing Northern California um at a national tournament and also an individual National Tournament setting moving into high school right I really wanted to continue I was really happy to be selected to be on the varcity tennis team and overall once again I have to bring in the community that I formed through that team and it's truly some of the longest lasting friendships I've had through high school we placed number one in our league which is the wcal league uh all four years that I was on the team and also one doubles player of the year uh which was just a really really nice achievement and I'm so glad that you know I was able to work towards that and accomplish that towards the end of my time playing on that team uh I continue to play tennis and College on our club team which is just been an awesome opportunity so that I'm able to focus on my studies while still like keeping in touch with the sport that I love and it's definitely like a lower commitment but it's also people that are super passionate and played competitively you know during their high school years so it's a great crack to play with those are some really reputed competitions that you played in and won in high school so it's really awesome that you are able to continue that in College let's talk about some more of your time in high school in your senior year you participated in a clinical Neuroscience virtual experience with Stanford medicine what did you do there and how did you get that chance yeah so the clinical Neuroscience virtual experience was a summer program that I did before my senior year it was an amazing experience through and through I think the broader take way of the course was different applications of the subject of Neuroscience past just being a premit it also explored applications in AI applications of technology and then of course applications of medicine and I got to hear from a lot of people that were Physicians neurologists neurosurgeons so on while also hearing from people that were more involved in Ai and Technology here at this open belly and how they applied that same subject in various ways was really really interesting to learn about about additionally um I was part of a Capstone group and in that Capstone group we basically put together a project on any one aspect of the course that we found super interesting so my group and I put together Capstone project on Huntington's disease so it's through this course I for sure gained that confidence that I really wanted to be a neuroscience major but also to be a Premed found myself really interested in the pathophysiology of all these neurological disorders that we were learning about through the course and it was definitely a really really valuable opportunity I'm very grateful I got to be part of it yeah that's so cool that you got practical knowledge about Neuroscience you are also the author of a re research paper while we're on the topic of that which is titled non pharmaceutical treatment for Alzheimer's disease what was the process of writing that paper and did you get any guidance while writing it yes so writing this research paper I will say was probably like an 8 to n month project I did I didn't do this Academy called polygen Academy which you have to apply into it's like through some essays and a video interview but basically what happens is in that application you indicate kind of what you are interested in researching learning more about writing about and you get matched with a mentor that shares those same interests and so I got matched with a mentor through Paulin who was doing a neuroscience PhD and had a lot of the same interests that I did and she was really really able to guide me also a someone that had um spent a lot of her undergraduate career in research and she was doing a PhD at the time and so she had a lot of experience in scientific writing and being new to that for me personally right so she was really able to guide me and really help me start from scratch and gain an understanding of that world and I'm very grateful for that um and so yeah the general process was really starting with a topic the topic probably took the longest to narrow down on we started pretty General and then we work it down to okay we want to write about Alzheimer's and then more specific than that what about alzers and then we had to put together a larger outline then I had to do my research and collect a lot of Intel from sources and things like that and then ultimately compile it so that was like the general skeleton of a process that I followed but definitely having her as a guiding figure not only in writing my paper but also as someone to just look up to and see guidance from in terms of Academia was just such a valuable experience that's super interesting and it's amazing that you got such good gu guidance from your Mentor I also did a scier project on Parkinson's disease and I had to do a lot of research on that too so I can imagine a little bit of the amount of the amount of work you have done were you also in any honor Societies in high school and if yes how were you able to become a member yeah I was in um the National Honor Society which at my high school was pretty straightforward process I think that most high schools you just have to enter in your like grades in GPA and then you get Auto admitted if you pass a certain cut off I believe so yeah that's what I was involved with uh with in high school yeah that's super cool so other than high school what are your future plans or aspirations after completing your undergrad and how do you see your experiences so far helping you achieve them so I'm currently Premed uh so it would be awesome to go to med school after completing my undergraduate degree that's what I'm hoping to do and in terms of my experiences so far I really hope to build on them but I'm uh part of research which I really really enjoy and I'm currently training to training up to become an EMT which I think will help experience- wise as well um um and you know in terms of just looking forward um I think see like being an Em I'm already training up in like clinical settings and things like that and I've already seen like unfortunately quickly for comfort that people riding in an ambulance can sometimes be a lot more concerned about how they're going to pay for it as opposed to like their actual condition and that's something that has already got me thinking right and I think it must be a privilege to be a part of the next generation of Physicians that works towards breaking down those barriers medical costs in the US are definitely a problem so it's so cool and amazing that you want to help that and as we're talking about college can you share what you think was the strongest thing on your college application um I think maybe two parts to this the first I would say that I'm pretty proud of my personal statement I spent a lot of time working on it and I went through a lot of different iterations of it getting feedback from a counselor my parents my English teacher and I really really went through a lot of rounds of it to get it as close to what I liked and the other thing is most of my extracurriculars i' been doing for a really long time like tennis I started playing when I was four I started singing when I was four I think showing that long-standing commitment towards those activities I tied into having the commitment for everything that I can do in the future when I'm determined and set my mind too so I would say those been two Danes yeah that's really great that you were able to put those longstanding extracurriculars on your application and you mentioned counsel did you get that help externally or from school and were they helpful yeah I had both an uh in high school counselor and I also have an external counselor I would definitely say it's really really great to have that support I definitely turn to them for in terms of just putting my list together of colleges I was applying to writing essays it's always great to have an experienced set of eyes look over your application especially when you're in the midst of applying to so many schools and things get repetitive for you it's very helpful to have a fresh set of eyes look at them so I definitely say it was helpful yeah yeah that's great advice for people like me who don't know whether to get a counselor externally or not and as we're talking about college applications did you take the SAT or the AC act and what do you think is a good score on those standardized tests for applying to the University of Washington I took the ACT I think what test okay just depends on your personal preference the ACT is like a lot of questions in a little amount of time I prefer to focus for you know concentrated time duration and just knock them out um but yeah that's just personal preference I think score-wise unfortunately like there's statistically there are scores but you know in reality every single person story is different and the score I would not say is definitive frankly I think test scores are decreasing in significance as we go on with uc's being test blind all altoe so I think pick the test that you think is best suited for you take a diagnostic I highly recommend that that's what I did uh you can just take a diagnostic test and it'll tell you like what test you're better suited for so yeah yeah that's great advice as we wrap up do you want to share any final words of encouragement for students applying to college I think if there's like one thing I would say it's just to enjoy everything you do I can look back and I can confidently say that everything I did was something I really wanted to do something I really enjoy doing I'm very lucky to have uh parents and teachers all throughout my life that have just supported me in doing what I like to do and I think that when you're truly really passionate about what it is you're doing it doesn't feel as much as a like a chore it feels like something you genuinely want to do right you're more likely to set aside time plan ahead than you are to procrastinate if it's something that you genuinely wake up looking forward to do so that's what I would say that's what I've tried to do and that's what I try to do now yeah you are very multi-t ented before we close what's your favorite way to enjoy yourself when you have free time or need a break from studying I think hands down uh either singing playing the violin or just listening to music um and also physical exercise I love working out I love going on a run to clear my head it always you know doing any of these things it helps me come back to the task at hand refreshed for sure yeah those are amazing ways to let off steam from it's been an absolute pleasure having you on the podcast today your journey through Neuroscience music and Athletics is extraordinary and I will continue looking up to you I'm confident that with your dedication and passion you will be able to go very far at the University of Washington and Beyond remember the journey to college is unique for everyone and exploring different majors and career paths can open up exciting possibilities keep asking questions stay curious and don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone if you enjoy today's episode be sure to stay tuned for more inspiring stories from different college students and graduates until next time this is aaol signing off from scholar stories n