Jenna Knafo

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NSU Minor Degree

Studio Arts

NSU Undergraduate Date

2016

Highest Degree Completed

Bachelors

Current Employer

Florida International University

Position

Researcher

NSU Experience

My Bachelors degree from NSU prepared me tremendously for graduate school. Right after graduating from Nova, I enrolled in a post-bacc bridge program at FIU's HWCOM and although the program is incredibly rigorous, I can attest that my undergraduate education from NSU has been incredibly useful so far and propelled my studies in medicine. Specifically, the higher-level biology courses i took at NSU like histology, advanced physiology, biochemistry, genetics, and cellular and molecular biology have been the most valuable to me thus far as I make my way through the medical program. I am also thankful for NSU's small class sizes and smooth integration between lecture and lab. Many of my current classmates from other universities did not have the same hands-on and integrative lab experiences I had during my time at NSU.

I encourage you to follow your passions and if there's a hobby that you genuinely enjoy outside of medicine, I advise you to try and incorporate it into your daily schedule to break up the rigor. For instance, I took a drawing class my freshman year at NSU as an elective and loved it so much I decided to minor in Studio Arts. With this minor, I was able to create a portfolio of art pieces that incorporated sciences/the medical field. The takeaway message: find a healthy stress reliever and roll with it!

If there's one last piece of advice I can give, it would be to put yourself out there and make connections with your professors. If I hadn't broken out of my shell, i would have never received such valuable advice, been offered numerous positions as a lab assistant for different courses, worked on research projects, volunteered with Science Alive, or had club officer positions. Make use of your professor's office hours and let them help you reach your goals!