work life balance, being a young woman in stem, and dealing with stress in university
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Hey, Nadia.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Hello. I'm good. How are you?
Alyssa Herrera-Set
How's it going?
Alyssa Herrera-Set
I'm good. Um, are you really good?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mmm, worse were what's the word? I'm surviving, not thriving. Actually I am thriving. But not in all parts of the day.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Hehehe
Alyssa Herrera-Set
What do you mean? What parts are you thriving in?
Nadia Herrera-Set
any part where I'm not doing organic chemistry.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Okay, why did you choose to take organic chemistry? You're a public health major and it's not a requirement. Why did you choose to take it?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Hehehe
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Definitely a question I've been asked multiple times this semester. Um, and it's only been like, yeah, I know and everyone's very curious. I have always thought I wanted to work in like a hospital, which means med school. In the traditional sense, that means med school. And so, um...
Alyssa Herrera-Set
It's only been two weeks.
Nadia Herrera-Set
I'm considering going pre-med. The thing is with Northeastern is that one public health, public health was like the major I was always interested in doing or pursuing, but it's very new major at Northeastern. So they already had a major and it was health sciences, which is like the basic health, I mean, I mean, it's the basic like health major and their major requirements are a little bit more based on what you need for pre-med.
And so things like Orgo you kinda need to take. And most people that are a health science major are pre-med. I guess maybe not most, but a lot of people are. And so, right.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
I mean, I'm sure there's also like pre-dental, pre-ner, not pre-nursing, because there's a nursing major, but pre-PT.
Nadia Herrera-Set
There's a pre-PA. Yeah, pre-PA, pre-PT, pre-dental. I'm sure there are others, but yeah. The public health, I didn't really get along with my academic advisor when I first talked to her about all this because I told her I wanted to do pre-med classes and she said the best thing for me to do would be to switch.
to health sciences, but I wanted to keep public health and consider doing pre-med. So basically I'm doing whatever I want and I chose to take Orgo in case I want to be pre-med later on. But I'm not pre-med yet.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
I mean, you could have chosen to take all your pre-med requirements after you graduated with your public health major.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Right. But I also like had elective spaces and like why not take it here? I also have a lot of friends that are health science majors so I like have a lot of classes with them and we're all taking organic chemistry together. Not in the same class but you know I think and I like having
Nadia Herrera-Set
And I would have to take those public health classes anyways with the health science major, which is a sudden, it makes, it's complicated, but there's just so many overlaps that would make it like for me easier if I just switched to health sciences, but I'm being kind of stubborn and I don't want to. So I'm just gonna keep with this and do whatever I want.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
I think that's the first, I mean, this is like one of the first situations where you're going to be advised to do one thing. But for good or for bad, right or wrong, you have this other thing in mind, and you choose to do the thing that you want to do, which I think happens a lot in life, but specifically in life as a female going into a profession.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Right.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
uh... that
is male dominated. I want to say that I don't actually know the stats on how many physicians or health care providers are male versus female. But I mean, the standard is that most work situations are male dominated. The leaders in organizations are male. So being female, being young, and choosing to take your own path is tough. But it's like something that.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
That is good practice, I guess I would say.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah, I did actually hear though. And it's like a very male dominated like in like the exec, like in the very high ups of healthcare. But I've heard that there's like, it's like a lot more women dominated in like med school and like even in my like the like pre, the health science like field, like in the basic health science classes, a lot of the times it's mostly girls and like three guys.
which is very interesting. But maybe it's also the school, the school, but I don't know. But yeah, it is definitely something challenging, but something that will be helpful later on.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
I mean, I feel that too in physical therapy. In my class at UCSF, there were 30, about 35 students, 30, 35 students, and 10 of them or so were male. And...
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
So that felt like, you know, like a pretty female dominated, or majority female class setting. But in the profession of physical therapy, although there are more women than men, I feel like the loudest voices, and especially in leadership of sports physical therapy, which is what my specialty is, there are a lot of, it's male culture and male leaders.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Man, yeah. Yeah.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
I have found some really amazing female leaders in my profession and gravitate towards them when I'm looking for advice on how to run my practice and how to progress my career. But yeah, I would say it's majority. Or that's what I feel like the loudest voices are. Yeah. So are you feeling like?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Yeah.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
taking OKEM, well, I call it OKEM, you call it ORGO. Are you feeling like OKEM? Oh, really? Is it a, are you regretting signing up for the class?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah, I don't know. I feel like that's an East Coast thing. I don't know.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Um, I'm not regretting it. I just... it's... I don't know. I enjoy class- like... I- In the past, like math classes, they're not easy, but I feel like... like doing quite- like questions with things that have actual answers instead of like, you know, what you do in humanities classes. It comes a lot easier to me, but
And so Orgo is more of like that math type chemist. I mean, it's chemistry. So it's like problems with answers. And in that sense, I enjoy that, but it's definitely gonna be kind of a, not like...
the school making their break for me. It's like me like deciding on what I want to do next because if I end this semester really enjoying Orgo, then I would go on to Orgo 2 and then I would continue with like Physics 1 and Physics 2. If I, I don't think I'll end the class not enjoying it. I have a good teacher. I just, I don't know.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Hehehehe
Nadia Herrera-Set
I feel like it's a little, it's definitely gonna make me think because if I, and plus I'm taking my co-op classes and I'll be on co-op next semester, so there's a lot of things in this semester that are like, um, dictating what I want to be doing, not like in, like for long term, but like in the short term, like in the next like five years. No, maybe two years. I don't know.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
You will just know that along the way of whatever, along your path, there's going to be a lot of opportunities for you to decide which direction to go. And there are some built-in hoops to jump. Is that the saying? Yeah. There are some like.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
obstacles.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Um...
built in traditional obstacles that people put in the way. It's hazing you to get to wherever you want to go. Organic chemistry is, I feel like one of those things. People get frustrated and like, what does this have to do with what I'm doing? This is so hard. I'm not going to be doing this deep of chemistry. But it's a little bit of showing someone that you have the dedication to get
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
through this obstacle because not just med school, but lots of other professional programs are challenging and they want to see. And that's also what college is about too a little bit. You're learning, but you're also telling the world, I'm making a commitment to getting the education. You can trust me that I can stick to something and see it through to the end.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah. I mean, I did. I say that. But also, like, I'm not really I'm not going to like give up on, you know, some like science as a whole, like I'm not going to like change directions completely. But I don't know, there's just a lot of things to think about. And with my co-op too, I also had to choose like clinical versus research. And so something like this.
Actually, like right now think like because of my orgo class I'm more interested in just like really getting into a clinical setting because and maybe it's like a research job, but in a clinical setting, but I Want to get fully immersed into it because I if I don't like it then There's just so many other paths I could take and I then I'll have like so many other class like class spots but
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Right, you want to be wasting time taking pre-med classes if you don't see yourself working in a clinical setting. And there's a lot of health professional directions you can go that don't require organic chemistry. I had to take physics in one and two for physical therapy, but I did not have to take organic chemistry, just regular chem, to a year of regular chem. Okay, so.
Nadia Herrera-Set
right.
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
I'm sure that any college student listening to this wondering if they're going to be pre-med is like, okay, enough about the organic chemistry. I totally feel you on this, but it's so stressful to think about what kinds of things are you doing to balance out the stress of school.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Um, well, it's definitely something like, it's like a continuous process for me. Cause I feel like I, my personality, I can make things more like anything more stressful than it has to be. But, um, and you know this, but I, in the beginning, like the first couple of weeks, like I went to the gym with my friends a lot and even like, we're not like doing crazy things at the gym, but it's definitely.
nice to get that kind of exercise. And I just recently joined the club gymnastics team at Northeastern, which is definitely something that I didn't expect to do, but I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. And that's another outlet. I think exercise really helps, even if I'm not
Alyssa Herrera-Set
outlet.
Nadia Herrera-Set
just to do something that's really not school and I can't be doing school at the same time because sometimes like I can watch TV and do all these things but I might be doing work at the same time and it's not really like
Alyssa Herrera-Set
enjoyable. You're not relaxing. Do you do anything that's like, chill? Like you say, you go to school, and then you exercise, and then you do gymnastics. Like, do you do anything that's just like, calm? And then I know that you go out on the weekend. So, do you do anything that's like, quiet and peaceful? Do you find that like, helpful at all?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah. Um, yeah.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Um...
Nadia Herrera-Set
uh, I sleep. There's not really a lot of quiet, peaceful time. But I also am not the type of person that really needs that. I think, I mean sometimes my roommates and I will like all just watch South Park together. Which I love that show so much. So I don't know. It's like little things.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Thank you.
Nadia Herrera-Set
I've been trying to cook for myself. We talked about food the last time. And recently I've been trying to cook. But that's also been a little bit stressful.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
trying to figure out cooking, like cooking itself is stressful or like the stress of trying to make sure you're eating healthy or whatever.
Nadia Herrera-Set
I like all of it. And then buying food. Money is very stressful.
and everything costs money.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Yeah, I mean, if you think about every part of life being like, stressful, like you attach that word stressful to it, then it probably will be. Yeah.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Nadia Herrera-Set
It can be attached to anything. Yeah. In the beginning, I mean, I really have only been here like three weeks, but I feel like I've been here forever. I haven't really been that stressed out, thankfully. And I think it's all kind of a little bit catching up, but it is that time of the month where like all your classes are gonna have like quizzes or tests and...
It's not like, oh fun, we're back at college. It's like, we're back at college and you have like work to do. But, I don't know.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Yeah. So are your friends doing like, are they similarly stressed about life and what are they doing to like, mitigate the stress?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm
Well, yeah, I mean, we're all a little bit stressed, but we're all to have our have our own things. My roommates, one of them's in the dance company at Northeastern. And I have other roommates that are rushing sororities and pre-med for hats. So there's definitely like a lot of little outlets. We've all like gone to like club meetings, but.
I don't know, like it's definitely a lot of stress right now, but I feel like in the next couple months it'll calm down. There'll still be like stress. Yeah, I think once we have like a routine, you know, because all of us are like trying out for like all these different things, like it's been a lot of like go go, but then once those things have their schedules, I think it'll be easier.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
You think so?
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
to manage.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Yeah, yeah, I can see that. Like, everything's like kind of disorganized right now.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah, yeah.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
What kind of things does your school have for you guys to balance out the, you know, like if you're feeling like you can't handle it or maybe that's a little bit dramatic, like if you're just feeling like a little bit extra, what kinds of things does your school offer?
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah. There are, um, like, health counseling services. I've never personally used it, but, um, that is available. And, like, I think it was implemented after COVID. It's, like, uh, I'm not sure what it's called. Like, a health day, basically, that you can, like, because some of the classes, like, they don't want you to not show up. Um, so...
you can like get your absence excuse basically. You just have to like ask for it ahead of time, which is kind of, I mean, there's like, it's up in the right direction. I don't know, right? I don't know, maybe you can do it after it happens, after the fact, but I think another thing is a lot of my classes are pretty hard, right? Like my classes are pretty hard, so I feel like if I miss a day,
Alyssa Herrera-Set
How far in advance? You're like, it's one minute before class, I need a health day.
Nadia Herrera-Set
I'm gonna miss a lot. And like, Orgo is my only class. I can, and I guess Biostats, but like, are the only two classes I can skip because they don't take attendance. But if I do skip those classes, like, I'm gonna be lost the next time. So it's like, I have to, I have to go. I mean, I don't have to, but I should.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Yeah, it makes it more stressful to not go.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah. Um, are there another?
Alyssa Herrera-Set
I thought I saw you guys have like, puppies on campus and stuff.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah, oh yeah, they, well there's always like a, actually I don't know where they stay, but Northeastern has like dogs that I think are connected with like NUPD, but they walk around and they also have like baby huskies. A lot of clubs, yeah very cute, a lot of clubs like have little, most times like clubs will have things set up on-
Alyssa Herrera-Set
So cute.
Nadia Herrera-Set
A club will have something set up. You could like buy food or like do a, I don't know, have a little activity. But it is like, they want money, but those are kind of fun.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Do they have a crisis hotline?
Nadia Herrera-Set
I mean, they should. I don't even know. But.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Okay, say you had a friend that had a crisis. What would your first step be? What do you think? What would you do? A mental health crisis.
Nadia Herrera-Set
I would.
I don't even know if I'd go through Northeastern.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
you just call a physics, like you call 911 or something like that, or like go online.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah, just because like, I mean, I guess this is just a sign I need to look this up. But I would just call 911 because it would be too much. I would have to like look up right these, you know, like I'd have to look it all up. I'm sure they have a crisis hotline, but there is an actual crisis hotline that could be more helpful. Or less, I don't know.
Thankfully I've never had to be in that situation, but I don't know. Sometimes like going through school, it just feels like it would take longer. I don't know. Like, there's just like too many like things you have to go through instead of just going straight to like the hospital. Yeah.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
an emergency situation. Yeah. Well, I bet they have things in place for long-term help. I'm assuming, and maybe it's wrong for me to assume, but I'm assuming that there is mental health, there's counseling on campus that's available to students, that they have regular appointments available, and that they can help students.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
that are having a really hard time, maybe advocate for themselves if they're like falling behind in class because they're going through a hard time, whether it's their issue or not. Like you could be having some kind of tragedy in the family or some like loss of money or something all of a sudden, and you need help and someone to advocate for you. I'm hoping that the school has that in place.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Yeah.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm. Right.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Right. Yeah. Oh, I- they definitely do. I just... I'm not... Yeah. Thank goodness. But I should probably be more aware of the resources I have. Um, but yeah. Thankfully I have not to use it. I think another like stressor too is like, um...
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Haven't had to find it.
Nadia Herrera-Set
the social life on campus. So even like you said, I do go out like on the weekends, but I mean like more like within like friend groups and stuff and I feel like especially this semester, everyone's like really busy and taking different classes. And so like, I feel an added pressure of like, oh, I haven't seen this person in a while. I should probably reach out to them or like, I don't know. It's just like hard to.
I feel like me personally, I'm like thinking of my, I think of myself and all the things, all my responsibilities with it. I'm like, oh, I have other people, like I have friends that I should probably take account for too, which is a little bit stressful, but doesn't have to be.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Yeah. Right. Like, you don't want to lose touch with these people that are important to you, but life is busy and you're not crossing paths. And so now you feel like this responsibility to reach out to them or else you might lose them as a friend, which is both like, like you want to have friends and so you worry about losing them, but also you want to take care of your friends. So you want to reach out to them.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Right.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Right.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm. I think that mainly also applies like friends at home too. There's just like a lot of different things. And I don't know why it feels like more this semester. I don't necessarily feel homesick as much as like in the way that I did in my first year. But I think a lot of things are changing. So it's like, I just want to go back to...
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Like do I wanna like, yeah, yeah. When I knew what was happening.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
stability.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
Yeah, I feel like, gosh, that's probably what your 20s is about. Or 18 to 28 or something is kind of like just 10 years of instability. So you're at the start of your ride right now.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yeah.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Mm-hmm. Yay. Yeah, but we'll see.
Alyssa Herrera-Set
All right, so I think I'll let you to go study for Orgo. Have a good weekend. Okay, bye.
Nadia Herrera-Set
Yay! You too! Bye!
