Look at that time fly

I need to seriously get back to updating.  The whole Summer and most of Fall has past by since my last update.  Updates to resume soon.

UCSF Pharmacy Information Day - Part 4 - Pharmacist Panel Concluded

[The Questions from the Audience portion of the Pharmacist Panel.]

Q: Do you think that the UCSF PharmD program helped you pass the licensure exam? What was your class passing rate?

4 – UCSF makes sure you're very prepared, although my year didn't do so well. That was because we had an acute crisis care with a crash cart, and you have to do a separate class to get that experience, and the exam had a part that was all about that.

3 – It's all computerized now. I felt very comfortable. In your 4th year, you end earlier than other schools. You end in March. You'll have months to prepare for the exam. When you graduate, the class president/officers will organize reviews. I thought it was helpful.

If you'll look at the schedule, you'll see that  in your 4th yeyour 4th year ends early, and you have three months to prepare. I felt very comfortable taking it.

4 – You'll have a lot of resources.

1 – I was in the last class to take state board that was written. It was much harder.

3 – I don’t know passing rate.

Q: Can you talk about residencies in hospitals?

3 – There are different types. For the most part, when you graduate, you pretty much have to do a year of residency to work in a hospital in a metropolitan area. One or two students did it without it, but that's rare. It'll help you with your clinical skills. Just like in med school, they usually do another three years of residency, rotating through different services. You know the textbook stuff, but you have to put in your hours to be a seasoned clinician.

1 – Part of what happens is that there's a match. You'll interview and you'll be ranked. You need to have communication skills. And know what they focus on. Do your research into where you want to go. If you don't match with them, they won't pick you.

4 – I don't know about other schools, but at UCSF, most people do a residency. 60%. Right now they're working on a law to require that if you want to be [a clinical pharmacist?] you have to do a residency.

3 – At UCSF I feel like we tend to do residencies more than other schools. It’s just our culture, but a lot of us end up doing it. All sorts of residencies.  General residcies, pediatircs, infectious disease, or specialize.

Q: 1 – I have a question. what made you special? Why did UCSF choose you?

2 – Leadership is really important. How do you deal with difficult people? What would you do in a difficult situation? Volunteering and working.

1 – All I had was community pharmacy experience. I knew nothing else. But I was open to learn about it all. Life long learning. Knowing what was happening in the field was important. And communication.

3 – There's a lot of group work. I felt that people so friendly, and successful, but also down to earth.

3 – Try to be oyourself.

4 – I got waitlisted, so don’t ask me.  I agree with them, they’re looking for your personality.

Q: What was the most challenging question?

1 – It depends on who interviewd you.

Q: What is demand like for each of your fields?

1 – It depends on your location. In San Diego, it's hard. In San Francisco, it depends. It cycles. Every 7 years there's a shortage. We're trying, as a profession, to move away from counting, so who knows by the time you're done.

3 – SF General Hospital is trying to cut budget costs. There is a proposal to fire everyone and rehire everyone at 37.5 hours per week. Guess what job classes are exempt? There are two. Radio technologies, and the other was the pharmacist. Currently at my hospital, other departments are freezing, but I kinda don't want to announce this to the people I work with, but we're still hiring. Every year we hire 4 new pharmacists. Staffing pharmacists. If I may, in my own biased opinion, you will always have a job. If you're willing to do the work, you'll always have a job. If you don't have a job when you graduate, call me, I will find a job for you.

2 – It's not a matter of finding a job, it's a matter of finding a perfect job. You may have to make sacrifices based on location, but after that you can do what you want.

3 – If you want to do the worst shift ever, even being a clown for a circus, it's not always available. But with a PharmD, you can choose what you want to do. In bad economic times, you'll always have a job.

4 – In managed care, it's a little incestuous, there aren't a lot of people there. We call others and ask "Are you happy with your job?" That happened to me, and originally I was insulted, but eventually she broke me down. If someone applies we all call each other up. "Don't you dare take so and so." Even with the freeze for other jobs, pharmacists were still allowed to be hired.

Q: Knowing what you know now, what would have done differently with undergrad?

2 – I don’t think so. Once I got in, I still had to take two more classes before I could start. What I did was Foothill for chem lab, BART [subway] to Berkeley for physio, then work. You can do what you want with undergrad as long as you do the prererquisites. My friend was an English major.

4 – We had a music major, econ, engineering,... it doesn’t matter.

3 – If you work for a ballet company, the circus,... as an undergrad, you can’t ge ta lot of pharm experience. Maybe a clerk position. If you can, try to, but it’s not required. Do something to stick out.

1 – For me, I would have tried to… being well rounded is important… if all you take is science, how can you be well rounded? I would have taken more lit classes. Language classes.

3 – To make our job easier, think about how are you going to stick out. Someone brought their violin. That's not to say “Be kooky”, but you'll be in a class full of leaders. You have to bring something. People are always giving back to the school. That’s what the culture is. Don't just come here to UCSF if you want to grind out your classes and just work. If that’s you, this might not be school for you.

2 – Don’t come if you just want to count pills. It’s way too much work if you don’t want to be innovative. Come here if you want to put your name out there. Otherwise if you just want to count pills, it's way too hard.

-----

And that's it!!  Finally after three posts I got through the first segment of the UCSF Pharmacy Information Day. They were all awesome people, with a lot of energy. They certainly sell the school well. There was a lot of confidence in all of them, they all sounded happy, and you can tel they all love what they’re doing.

As a side note, it looked like the moderator gave all the speakers a gift of some Ghiradeli Chocolate.  Mmmmm...

Part 5 - UCSF PharmD Program Overview is next!

UCSF Pharmacy Information Day - Part 3 - Pharmacist Panel Continued

[The panel continues.]

Q: Now that you're currently practicing, looking back, how did pharm school prepare you?

4 – I was the last class before the pathways. I didn't get to be involved with that. It would have been nice to get the HPM (health policy and management) pathway before jumping into it. In pharm school you get skills to be able to compile large amounts of information. You don't get lost in the details. You can see in grey if that makes any sense. A lot of healthcare practitioners see in black and white. In my line of work, you can't just deny a request for non-FDA approved drugs. You have to look at the literature. We're not called the pharmacy department, we are clinical support. We have to keep up with the latest surgery procedures, and use skills in researching drugs. I have UCSF to thank for that.

3 – I took the HPM pathway, and now I'm doing something completely different. You can choose one pathway, but you don't have to stick with it. You still come out with a PharmD. UCSF really opens a lot of doors. We're forced to be so involved. You don't want to be the only one not in a club. All your classmates are all hardworking, energetic, and nice.

How many clubs are there now? There seems to be a new club every year. You get exposed to a lot of careers. UCSF has allowed that to happen for me. I knew I didn't want to do retail. It's good to know you can be in law, insurance, a physician group, research, or management. The pathways do help a lot. in HPM we studied out of Harvard Business School books. It helps you manage people. I remember we used something called word jujutsu. We role played how to deal with different people, how to negotiate a raise, and dealing with lobbyists. You deal with difficult people, and you have to use that, to calm things down rather than add to the fire. You don't want conversations to blow up. That's what UCSF has really taught me. People mostly are well spoken and get their point across [at work]. But you have to back up all your recommendations to the doctors on a daily basis. At UCSF you have to get up and talk. You do it at least once if not 10 times. You learn how to become a great speaker.

2 – UCSF prepares you for anything you want to do. With that said, you're never prepared for anything. For UCSF students, vs other schools, you have so many opportunities opened up for you. They make you think outside the box so you're not so rigid. you have experience in public speaking, presentations, interacting with colleagues. Those skills are just invaluable. Working on the east coast, comparing students here and Rutgers or USP, we're more prepared to deal with people and changes. Things that don't go your way. If you're in community pharmacy, you don't always get people who want to tell you about their winter vacation. You sometimes get yelled at about things beyond your control. The school teaches you how to deal with people like that. You don't just yell back or make the tech deal with that. That's what's great about a pharm degree. You spent 4 years in your undergrad, and 4 years in pharm school, and now you're the manager. That's your responsibility.

3 – You work a lot in groups at UCSF. You learn to be a team member. Now that I'm a working adult (I don't feel like an adult), you can tell sometimes, "You didn't play sports as a kid, did you?" You can tell. You have to work as a team.

4 – You learn about reflective listening. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”

1 – First thing is that when you're at a professional school, it takes about two quarters getting over the competitive feeling. UCSF does a good job about that. Gets those basics in you. Also you get to work with world class professors. I'm not sure about now, but I got to work with a nobel prize winner. You can't exchange that opportunity for anything. The connections, the dean, the awards, the opportunities, and the door that are available. That puts you in situations _____. They want to see you as a person. You can learn a completely different skill sets than just the science of it all. How to negotiate, those kinds of opportunities are valuable, how to read a patient's body language, how to approach them based off of that. Will they do what you want? Or will it be a negotiation? Or will you have to lay down the law.

3 – I still use those skills.

Q: Talk about how you see pharmacy practice changing in the future.

1 – Back then it was just, how did it go? Count, pour, lick 'n' stick. That’s all we used to be. Pharmacists were only supposed to dispense meds and that’s it. Now we do medical collaborations. In stores, I rarely counted. I didn't care if I had to ring up patients, I wanted to be there to create a bond. I had patients from poison ivy to pancreatic cancer, and I wanted to be there to provide emotional support. It's shifting to being an information specialist [Note: I like that term. "Information specialist."] It's great to be able to think in grey. Not "this is what the book says".

2 – In terms of drug research, right now we're working on hepatitis c, the standard is a pill or shot once a week, with lots of side effects, and only 40% respond and get cured. Now we're developing new drugs, such as a protease inhibitor. Works similar to HIV drugs. We're moving away from a standard of care with lots of side effects and not that effective. Also, personalized healthcare. We're developing drugs that are easy to pick as low hanging fruit. Develping drugs for stuff that doesn't have a treatment, no more Cialysis. Going away from drugs approved for different disease states. Right now Lipitor is being approved for other stuff than just cholesterol. We're looking for drugs for treatments that otherwise wouldn't have it.

3 – It might be a little unethical to say, it's a huge cultural issue, that we shouldn't be prescribing if we're going to be dispensing. If the pharmacist prescribes and dispenses, you'll prescribe the most drugs to make the most money. But I hope in the future, it'll be more about prescribing medications. Because I'm in a hospital setting, I'm not selling the drug, so I can do this. I'm not making a profit out of that so it's ok.

Now, the doctor says this what I want, what do you think? We had a heart disease patient with renal failure. She was struck between two pathways. In that process, I was the one to decide. I wrote it and the doctor signed it. In outpatient, we can't do that. Hopefully there will be clinical pharmacists in inpatient as well as outpatient. Physicians do the diagnosis, they're good at diagnosis, then we prescribe.

4 – I agree. There are few states where pharmacists can prescribe. I did in Seatle, Washington, and I thought it was normal. And then in California you have to have a protocol to do that. I thought that was weird. Going forward, it may become easier to do. As physicians see that we're more specialized now. With healthcare reform, insurance carriers will be looking at more innovative payments. Instead of pay for service, it may be lump sum of money to manage my patients. They may say, here's how much you have to work with, now do what you can do. It will be more challenging. Cardiology, oncology... will be hard. It's very complex. They may give lump sums for different types of cancer. On the flip side, we have to include a clinical component. Intensive to withhold medication. People will get very innovative. Right now we can't sustain the rise in drug costs. We have a patient, her drugs cost $800k a year. It's for an enzyme replacement. It allows him to walk 20 more meters in 6 minutes. Is that efficient? Well, she has the disease, so she has the drugs. Going forward pharmacy will develop new payment methodologies.

[Now that's the end of the pre-set questions, next post will continue with the questions from the audience.]

UCSF Pharmacy Information Day - Part 2 - Pharmacist Panel

8:30 – 8:55 – REGISTRATION

It was quick and simple. Stand in line, say your last name, and then receive your packet. [More on the packet in a later post.]

9:00 – 9:15 – WELCOME

Also quick and simple. We just went over what was in the packet, and were given a reminder that there was a parking ticket voucher for anyone who parked in the garage.

9:15 – 10:15 - CAREER OPPORTUNITIES IN PHARMACY: A PHARMACIST PANEL

[Normal disclaimer: This is not word for word. I'm just doing the best I can to go off of my notes that I typed up while I was there. And I have to say that I loved hearing from these pharmacists, hearing about what it is that they do. I'm most familiar with what a community pharmacist does, and these people don't do that.]

Then we start off with the pharmacist panel! First here's our pharmacists:

1 - Shawn - District Pharmacy Supervisor of Walgreens
2 - Linda - Clinical Pharmacology Specialist Roche Palo Alto/Genetech
3 - Nam - Inpatient Clinical Pharmacist, Clinical Professor, UCSF School of Pharmacy
4 - Katherine - Manaer of Clinical Support Hills Physicians Medical Group

Q: Tell us about yourself. What goes on during a typical day?

4 - I work for the Hill Physicians Medical Group. I manage patients, and a network of physicians to service those patients. 8 pharmacists work in the medical group. If there was a typical day, I wouldn't be in manage care. Every day is different. It's about population based disease state management vs individual care. We view trends for about 300k patients. I look at diabetics to see if they're receiving certain drugs, what other drugs they can use to improve their health care quality, and work closely with physicians. Check on prescription patterns of physicians, and make sure they follow guidelines so it's all more consistent. Strive to improve quality. I work with a 50 million dollar drug budget. Develop guidelines, make sure drugs used appropriately, and work with the contract department for ancillary services.

3 - I work in the SF General Trauma Level 1, in-patient clinical pharmacy side. I work in a hospital. There are two main services: inpatient family medication and an acute care elders unit. I start at 7:30, and sit at a table with physicians, and we talk about our patients. They'll talk about what kind of medications they want to try, and sometimes I'll interject when it comes to dosing, when they may want to switch anti-biotics, or suggest other pain medications that may be more appropriate to an elderly person. I also make sure there are good drugs on the formulary list. We admit about 7 patients a day every day. After we talk about them, we go and meet the patients. That's important. We can see their weight, ethnicity, or if they're confused. In the afternoon, if I have students, I talk with them.

2 - I work for Roche/Genetech, a pharmaceutical company. Not many PharmD's do what I do. Although there are three in my department from UCSF, it's not something a lot of people [who go to pharmacy school] do. There are a lot of PhD's and MD's. I go to a lot of meetings about developing drugs, and don't see patients. Contract out studies. When we get drugs, they've usually gone through animals or lab tests, and the first thing we do is design a study for a single test in humans. Then based off that, other studies get done, and by the end it's a 10 year process. A lot of the time, you don't make it to the end. It will get canceled, or you get moved off the project. I want to make it from end to end. When you study PK [pharmacokinetics0 and PD [pharmacodynamics], you are very valuable.

1 - I supervise 35 community pharmacies, 200 pharmacists. My day is never the same. With 35 different pharmacies, instead of having patients, I have pharmacists. I help solve issues when they have ethical issues or problems. I deal with new negotiations. The Health Policy Management pathway helped with that. I help facilitate patient care programs, make sure people are trained appropriately, marketed, and set up guidelines. MTM programs. Help patients get more formulary drugs. My day is spent visiting all of my pharmacies. 25% is management and personnel issues.

Q: How did you decide to become a pharmacist?

1 – I originally wanted to be a vet, but eventually I became allergic to cats, so that didn't work out. It didn't happen 'til late in college. But I'd been working as a cashier for a pharmacist since I was 16. The pharmacist said I had common sense, I was great with patients, etc, and I should consider being a pharmacist. So I took a year off from college and thought about it. At this point I only had community pharmacy experience. No managed care or ____. I looked into it all, and I liked dealing with patients that you see on a regular basis, so I went into community pharmacy.

2 – I was an undergrad at UCLA, my major was chemistry. [Something about engineering...] ... worked for a semi-conductor company. What got me to apply to pharmacy school... well... I took some courses at a community college for some credits, and then when I talked to a counselor, he said I was wasting my time [because I already had a degree]. I told him I always wanted to go to UCSF, and it turned out pharmacy was the right one for me. I knew the pharmaceutical sciences pathway was the right path, and that community pharmacy was not the right one for me. I did sometimes like working in a pharmacy, but not 40 hours a week. Sometimes I float in the pharmacy just to see some patients.

3 – I have a lot of admiration for people who work and then go back to school. It's not easy. As an undergrad, I was interested in genetics. I love the theory of genetics. I worked in the genetics lab as an undergrad, did a lot of work, published a lot of studies, and did public health at UC Berkeley. I loved the science of drugs. The story of drugs, how drugs bind to enzymes, etc. I came back to be a TA for an undergrad program. I loved it. I come from a long line of pharmacists, and I've been working there since I was 17. I do not like retail, and I didn't think I could do that for the rest of my life. And I didn't want to be blinded and go there for the rest of my life just 'cause my family did. So that's why I explored genetics. But if I went down that way, it would be studying one protein for the rest of my life, and you may or may not discover something.

I do so many things in a given day. You are such a busy bee. I write a box for every task I do, and by the end of the day I'm like, "Wow, I did a lot today." I still go back to my drawings when I teach other students. You can do so many different things, and don't have to just do everything people typically think [a pharmacist] does. I'm the worst counter.

4 – I'm the first of 6 kids to graduate from high school. I also wanted to be a vet. Davis didn't want me. At UCSD I voluteered in a program at a pharmaceutical company. Pfizer owns it now. I enjoyed it. I got to work with animals, and I had a relationship with a high performance lipid chromatographer. I thought about getting a PhD. I looked into the PharmD program, and I liked that it was flexible. I didn't want to be stuck doing the same thing my whole life. If I got bored, I could switch after 10 years and still be working in the same field [Note: This is one of the very appealing aspects of pharmacy for me as well.] I called up and asked if there were pharm programs in California. There were only three at the time. UCSF was the only one that gave me an interview.

[The rest of the pharmacist panel to be continued next post.]

UCSF Pharmacy Information Day - Part 1 - Overview

Alright. Just got back from the UCSF Pharmacy Information Day (rather than going to my graduation ceremony at SFSU). It was worth it.

Coming out of it, I feel better about applying there. And I already knew that I was going to do that.

So here's the schedule:

- 08:30-08:55 am - Registration

- 09:00-09:15 am - Welcome

- 09:15-10:15 am - Career Opportunities in Pharmacy: A Pharmacist Panel

- 10:15-10:30 am - Break

- 10:30-11:15 am - UCSF School of Pharmacy Pharm.D. Program: An Overview

- 11:15-12:15 pm - Pharmacy Student Panel

- 12:15-01:30 pm - Lunch with Pharmacy Students and Campus Tours

- 01:30-02:00 pm - Funding Your Pharmacy Education

- 02:00-03:00 pm - UCSF School of Pharmacy Admissions/Preparing a Competitive Application

- 03:00 pm - Closing/Evaluation

This was the full-day version of the Preview Day that I attended back in October. While four of the six parts to the event were covered last time, they were condensed a bit, and there was still something to learn during each of the major sections.

They started off with a bang, with an excellent Pharmacist Panel that was 100% new information for me. Yet I still learned some good insights into what's it's like being a student, a useful Letter of Recommendation tip, a starting point for researching out of state schools, some useful Financial Aid info, and revised the way I need to look a my pursuit of pharm tech experience.

Everyone talked sooo fast. The day was throwing all kinds of info at me. But as usual, I had my trusty netbook with me, and so I'll be breaking it all down and sharing it all on here over the next few days.

Next Up: Registration, Welcome, and Pharmacist Panel!

Short Job Search Update

The pharm tech I applied for earlier was filled. Not surprisingly really. I have no experience, and my schedule won't be all that friendly (definitely not for full-time work). So the plan now is to get work where I can that will fit my schedule, and to pursue volunteer work.

That work where I can is still that library aide position that I mentioned. I have an interview on June 3rd. If that job has the hours that I need, especially during my 19 unit fall semester, I'll be very happy to have it. I'll get money I otherwise wouldn't have, and work experience that I'm lacking. Anything at all would be nice to have on my resume.

Kaplan PCAT Preview Class

I took a preview class with Kaplan today at 7pm EDT (4pm my time.)  I gotta say I loved it. It was a pretty straightforward live online class. The Kaplan instructor went through the basics of the exam, then we went through 11 sample problems covering the various topics on the test.

Those were some good sample questions. Good at showing me how useful taking a Kaplan course would be, and good at showing me how much I don't know and need to review. If anyone sees this in time and wants to check out the free preview class themselves, you can register for next Thursday's class (May 27th, 9pm EDT) at this link.

And of course at the end of the class, they cover the product that they offer, which is a 14 class program (Sometimes once a week, other times multiple times a week.) that focuses on a different topic each time, and includes two full practice tests.

The classes cover:

Class 01 - 3.5 hours - In class Diagnostic Exam
Class 02 - 3.5 hours - Orientation and Verbal Ability 1
Class 03 - 3.0 hours - Biology 1
Class 04 - 3.0 hours - General Chemistry 1
Class 05 - 3.0 hours - Organic Chemistry 1
Class 06 - 3.0 hours - Reading Comprehension
Class 07 - 3.0 hours - Quantitative Ability 1
Class 08 - 3.5 hours - Midterm Exam
Class 09 - 3.0 hours - Verbal Ability 2
Class 10 - 3.0 hours - Biology 2
Class 11 - 3.0 hours - General Chemistry 2
Class 12 - 3.0 hours - Organic Chemistry 2
Class 13 - 3.0 hours - Quant 2/Reading 2/Quant Mini-Test
Class 14 - 3.5 hours - Final Exam

You can take the classes live in a class, live online, or through on demand files (and private 1 on 1 tutoring is available as well.). If I took the class, I'd probably take the live online version. It costs $1399 ($150 off if you sign up before May ends.) I think it would absolutely raise my score, but that is a lot of money (You do physical materials sent to you no matter which learning service you pay for.).

As it is right now, if I have to go through a second round of applications, then I will absolutely take the course, but at this moment in time, I don't see myself paying for this service.

What I did take away from the experience though is that I most definitely need to do a lot of review and studying. I need to remember all kinds of simple tricks. And I learned that the average score in all these different categories (besides the writing portion) is a 400, and a 440 is needed to be in the 90% percentile.

Not much more to say except that the studying continues!

(And of course, to learn more of the Kaplan services, check out their website.)

Undergraduate work complete! and Now what?

Alright, I took my Psy Research Final today. Piece o'cake! We got our paper back as well, and the way I figure the resubmitted homeworks are going to turn out, as well as other miscellaneous points, I figure that I could have gotten a 42/75 on the final and still passed. And I'm confident of about 70 of those 75 questions. That means I didn't even need the extra credit to get an A in the class. Pretty cool.

And that's it. That's the end of my undergraduate responsibilities, besides submitting my grade from the 1 unit class I took at my community college. (Minor, but important. No degree without submitting that to SFSU. It was part of my graduation plan that I had signed off on to get the semester started.) It's not a great accomplishment. In fact it's a bit of an embarrassment, but it's done. A part of the shame I carry with me can be put aside now.

Resuming study for the PCAT is part of the So now what? I haven't done any studying. I checked the exam dates Friday night, and there are four dates to take it before next round of applications:

June 19, 2010 (Register by May 7th)

August 21, 2010 (Register by July 9th)

October 16, 2010 (Register by Sept. 3rd)

January 22, 2011 (Register by Dec. 10th)

June 19th is definitely too soon, and I'd rather have January 22nd as an option if I don't like my results. If possible, I'd like to take the exam at the August 21st date. That'll be during the first week of the Fall semester, so there won't be any other exams that I'll have to be considering.

I've already begun studying since yesterday. I'll just have to evaluate my progress as the July 9th registration date approaches. Just as important, I need to seriously research out of state schools, because I'll need to be able to say which schools I want my results sent to when I register, I believe.

More info can be found directly at the official PCAT website, including a .pdf of the PCAT Candidate Information Booklet.

Saturday, May 22nd is the graduation ceremony for SFSU. Will I be going? Nope! I'll be going to the UCSF Pharmacy Information Day instead. I went to the Preview Day back in October, and now will be the full day experience. Here's the agenda straight from the confirmation email:

Program Agenda:

- Welcome

- Career Opportunities in Pharmacy (Pharmacist Panel)

- School of Pharmacy Pharm.D. Curriculum

- Why Pharmacy? (Pharmacy Student Panel)

- Lunch with Current Pharmacy Students

- Financial Aid & Campus Tours

- UCSF School of Pharmacy Admissions Process

- Preparing a Competitive Application

- Evaluation and Questions

It cost $25 to register, and that comes with food and parking. Awesome. Parking tickets have not been my friend in the past.

I like that this event happens so soon after finals. It's easier working with momentum. That's one of the reasons why I began studying again for the PCAT yesterday (and am continuing today) before finals was even over. I'll be sure to read over my posts from the Preview Day, and see what I can take away from their day long presentation.

Psy Research - Paper, Poster, Presentation, and Final

Let's do a wrap-up of Intro to Psy Research. Grading is based on weekly homeworks, quizzes, a group research project which consists of a paper, poster, and if chosen, a presentation, and the final (and attendance).

- Attendance and Quizzes

I only had one unexcused absence this semester. That is a vast improvement on my attendance from the bad days, and better even than last year. I'm proud of that. Especially since my classes began at 8am. I have had a terrible record when it comes to attendance for 8am classes, and that's now a thing of the past. My one missed class did happen to fall upon the day we had our first pop quiz, but we get to drop one, so it wasn't too bad.

- Paper

There's not much to say besides it being excellent. We had to turn it in at various stages, and our group paper received a 44/45 the first time, then a 72/75 the second time. We strove for perfects, but never expected it. We were there to learn after all and didn't know everything before taking the class. The final paper was submitted on Friday, and I expect to get a comparable score.

- Poster

As a group we put together a poster summarizing our project, and as a class, we had a poster conference where we'd present our posters to each other and we gave each other scores on originality, methods, and poster presentation. When it comes to crafts, I always insist on a clean look, using a knife/razor to cut paper rather than scissors, and I insisted on keeping everything the same, large font for easy reading. And of course we worked to make sure the content was as good as it could be as well. And at the end of the day, it all paid off, because we got chosen as one of the Top 5 groups to make a presentation of our full study to the whole class for extra credit points.  (10-30 points possible. To keep that in perspective, the Final is 75 points, Quizzes were 20 points each totaling 100 points, and homeworks were 15 points each totaling 150 points.  30 points is a lot!)

- Presentation

I feel that our presentation was definitely the best of the 5 presentations. We had a nice flow, used actual slides rather than a shrunken down version of our poster, we had a study that was basic but well thought out, and we covered everything from what led to the development of the study to limitations and strengths. We took second place.

The group that won got to present on the second day, thereby having an advantage of seeing what the other people did, which is just how it was, but the unsatisfying part was that the winning group relied more on gimmicks and performance to get the class to rank them high, rather than actually presenting a study. But I couldn't completely fault the class, it was our TA that really taught us what a presentation was supposed to be like and how to think of them critically, while the teacher didn't even break down the scoring into three categories like she did on the poster grading sheets.

All in all though, the whole project was a great experience, and working in groups, creating a poster, and presenting in front of a class are all different experiences that I will be able to learn from and take with me going into pharmacy school.

- Homework and Final

So I've been doing excellent in attendance, quizzes, and everything related to the group project. Add that on top of the fact that we get to resubmit all our homeworks on the day of the final to be regraded for 80% of our missing points... well... my homework grade isn't as good as it could be. Adding on top of that, that I now have 25 points of extra credit... well... I can say that I've been tempted to be lazy and go into the final overconfident again. It can be seen as gaming the system, or as just knowing where to prioritize right. I'm getting an A regardless, and just as important, I knew I was learning the material.

Except I've been able to resist that this time.  I do think that I don't need that much review, but I'll make sure that I do review the material. And I have already fixed two of the three homeworks that will get me a decent amount of points back. Getting an A should be no problem. Anything less than that would be shocking.

Genetics Final

I am behind on updates. Been focusing on finals even though there's been a lot going on. Time to start correcting that.

Alright. Let's first talk Finals prep. I wanted to begin studying the Saturday before the final (scheduled for Friday), but then I received an email from my Psy Research teacher that our group project got selected as one of the Top 5 projects of the class, and would be presenting for extra credit that Monday. (More on that tomorrow.) So there went my weekend. I didn't want to let my group down, and well... I wanted to win.

So that left me Monday through Thursday to study, keeping in mind that my final paper for Psy Research was also due Friday. We had two full chapters to cover (11 and 12), and then five partial chapters to study for (in order of assumed importance - 16, 17, 13, 14, 10). I divided the chapters up to cover Monday through Wednesday, and to just review on Thursday.

It didn't turn out that way. I didn't study Monday, but I still did get studying in the rest of the three days. I'd read a section of a chapter, digest the information, study the figures we needed to learn, and then took a break. I'd write down all the info from memory, and redraw the diagrams til I could regurgitate it just fine, then moved on to the next section.

It was a nice system, and with frequent breaks, it didn't feel like it took too much time out of my day. It's nice not cramming material the night before. My study habits aren't where they should be yet, but they're certainly improving. I didn't feel pressure when it came to studying for Genetics and meeting up with my group to work on our presentation and paper, but if I went into pharmacy school now I don't think it'd be good enough. (Another thing that I did was to delete Plants vs Zombies from my computer, which was sucking up a couple hours of time each day.)

Then came the actual final. The way I calculated it, I needed to get 104 points out of 100 points + 5 extra credit, to get an A. That would be highly unlikely. I had a 21 point cushion to get that A- and not drop down to a B+. As it is right now, I feel I should have gotten an A in the class, but an A- will be acceptable. I won't be happy, but I'll accept it. Getting a B- would be dissatisfying, and a B would be somewhat devastating.

From an Admissions standpoint (at least the one that I have in my head), this is my first science class since I switched to pharmacy, and I only had a 6 unit semester, so I should have gotten an A. On the other hand, since this is my first science class since I switched majors, maybe there's some leeway there. When I'm done, they'll see my progression and recovery since the "bad days" as long as I really do get all A's and some A-'s with the rest of my classes, maybe it's not so bad. And this isn't my last science class at SFSU anymore, like I thought in the beginning of the semester, since I'll be able to take Cell Bio and General BioChem this summer. (Although it's my last first attempt science class... sheesh... I think things through way too much.)

So I went in, and took the final, and it was pretty easy. All the answers came to me pretty quickly. I didn't answer what I assume is 1 point of the extra credit, and 2 points of the regular questions, so that guarantees no A in the class (unless the professor "curves" the scores, which I will not rely on), but that was unlikely in the first place.

But... while I felt I finished with a good 10 minutes left, and was just glancing over all my answers, as soon as I walked out the door, I realized I messed up a simple part of the first question! It was a 20 point question. I tried calculating it in my head, and originally thought I'd for sure get 12-14 points wrong. Adding that to the questions I didn't answer, that left me with 4 points left of my cushion left!! But after thinking more about it, I think it's more like 6-8 points marked off, which is a little bit better.

Realizing a mistake right when you leave an exam is not a fun experience. It's been constantly popping up in my mind these past three days. I do not want a B+. I do want to see my grade now, but I'll have to wait until June 2nd. We'll see how it goes then.

Weight Loss - Part 8

It's been a month, so it's time for that new update on my weight loss goal.  Once again, while not directly related to pharmacy, working towards improving my health, self-esteem, and energy levels will most definitely help me reach my goal.  It's not all about fleshing out the application.  (Unless I end up writing a little something about this in supplemental apps.)

Now for the numbers:

Starting Weight: 216.8
Weight Last Month: 204.0
Week 26 Weight: 204.0
Week 27 Weight: 206.0
Week 28 Weight: 208.2
Week 29 Weight: 207.4
Week 30 Weight: 209.4
Total Weight Loss: -5.4
Pounds Still to Go: 24.4
Trendline Estimate: 205.0

What happened? Failure is what happened. I can say a lot of things. Like I haven't been going to the gym to heal the damage to my calf that I've been feeling, that my brother came back from med school for two weeks and we've been eating all the food he hasn't been able to eat while over there, but in the end, I just failed. At least during this extended period from January until my birthday, failure means I still lost 2.4 pounds total. It's not good enough. I didn't get myself the birthday present that I wanted to get, but in the end, this deadline was also almost essentially just a number. Weight management is a hard fought battle, and the battle wages on. Next deadline - Week 52.

Pharm Tech Hire... So Close! And Resume 1.5

Ok so... I went in to the Human Resources office to physically fill out an application for the pharm tech job. As I was filling it out, a nice lady was walking by and stopped. She asked me what job I was applying for and I told her. She asked, "Do you have a resume?" I told her I did. Then she asked, "Did anyone recommend you?" And I said yes to that to. She then told me that she'd go ask the director if I could get an interview on the spot!!

Unfortunately when she came back, it wouldn't be possible at that exact moment, but she was going to make sure the director got my resume, and that I would be getting a call. Not the absolute perfect storm, but still that's some nice weather blowing my way.

And the resume I handed her wasn't quite the one I posted up the other day. I made three significant adjustments.

One, I added to my objective that Volunteering was also an acceptable option that I'd be willing to take. One more point to emphasize that I'll be there to really learn the job, and that I'm not just applying for money. The experience is more valuable to me than money.

Two, I added that I have my CPR/AED certification.

Three, I added that I'm a member of the American Pharmacists Association. That's not something I've talked about on here before I think. That's because while I do get the emails, and I do get the magazine, I have yet to participate in any event. I became a member... in November of 2009 I believe. But most of the events are really geared towards pharmacists and student pharmacists, and then pharm techs. I have yet to figure out how to fully utilize my membership as just a pre-pharmacy student. That's why I initially left it off, but my friend convinced me that I deserve to put it on there because I have contributed by paying my dues.

When I asked my cousin to review my resume, he brought up three things. He works in the biotech field, and felt that while it was good to put my goals on the resume, he felt the 2012 date for when I wanted to be a student pharmacist was a detriment. However, from all that I've seen, a there have been plenty of student pharmacists and presenters that talk about how even just one month of experience will help in your applications to pharm school. That gave me the impression (perhaps mistakenly) that there are plenty of applicants that don't work for very long, and so saying my target date by Fall 2012 meant I actually wanted to work there for a long time. The position is also just an On Call position and not full time, helping to strengthen my belief that putting the date on there is the right thing.

My cousin also thought that putting the gap in time under my Pre-Pharmacy Association involvement was a bad idea, and that I should have just written it as 2006-Current. But there are two issues with that. I have a hard time lying. It's simply not true. The other is that I think it's actually better to have that gap. I was the founding Vice President, and then nothing else. If I was involved that whole time, I think it actually looks worse on me that I didn't take any other position. Maybe I was a bad leader, people hated me, or simply lost interest. I think by having that gap, perhaps that might lead to an interview question asking why, and I could explain I gave up on pharmacy, took a break, and have regained my motivation.

In fact, I think collectively all the additions really tells that story on my application, that I've come back with determination to make it. I have three items under Licensure/Certification that all expire in 2011, and I have it written down that I rejoined the PPA and became a member of APhA at the same time, and they know my goal is to make it into pharmacy. Collectively that seems to me that it speaks out that I've been taking all the proper steps to make it towards my goal, and will be a pharm tech that will be working his best to make it there.

Genetics Take Home Exam - Quick Correction

Two things about the exam. It seemed to be a consensus that the Question 1 could have been worded better. That seemed to be the question most people were asking about before class was started as they compared answers.

The other thing is that it's good I double checked with someone else. I overlooked an important sentence that was part of Question 2a. I read the question as: Both John and Jane have siblings with sickle cell anemia but don't have it themselves.  What is the chance that their child will also have the disease. I overlooked the part of the question that said that no one else in the family had sickle cell anemia. That completely changed how the problem should be approached since the disease is autosomal recessive.

Genetics Take Home Exam

I've been working on my Take Home Exam (which will be averaged with my lowest exam score). For the most part, most of it is pretty easy... except for the very first question which is worth 15 points. I don't think we were taught how to indicate the chromosomal make-up of a cell that's gone through meiosis I. How do you show chromatids connected by a centromere if the original cell began with 1m1d2m2d3m3d?

And the question asks to state the possible chromosomal composition of daughter cells.  Does the=a? Because there isn't much space to write the answer, so it can't be to write down all the possible combinations due to crossover.  Well, there is no Psy Research tomorrow due to a furlough, so I'll have that hour free, and get some help from classmates. (Working on the exam with others is allowed. I wanted to work on it by myself at first because I wanted to really see if I knew the material.)

We'll see how it goes.

Resume 1.0 - Pharmacy Technician

Well... I made a resume. I got a tip about a possible job at a hospital, and I put together what I could to make a resume. It's a bit sparse. I had to really find a way to word my duties working for the Census to have any kind of relevance towards duties as a pharm tech. But at least I do have something to put under the work experience section now.

The key things on here that I have are that they know I have the PTCB certificate and license to work in CA, they can clearly see that I will have the motivation to do well in the job because I plan an using the experience as an important learning experience to becoming a pharmacist, and while I don't have any pharm tech experience yet, I've obviously taken plenty of classes that use many of the same math concepts required for the job and have first hand experience with the equipment that I may be using.

On a more anal note... I probably spent half an hour or so deciding what font I wanted to use.

(Yes, the rest of this post is 100% about font choice.)

I googled "resume font" and the sites I went to suggested Times New Roman and Arial to look more contemporary. Well I originally wrote it in Arial, but when I was done, I switched it to Times just to see what it looked like.

Well... the website was right that Times does look more old fashioned. It also is a bit smaller than Arial. With the Arial font, I took up nearly the whole page, in Times there was a larger gap at the bottom, and switching to a 12 font made it exceed one page.

I felt comfortable with my choice in Arial until I changed just the header to Times. I really liked how the header looked in times. That came off as more professional looking. I started questioning myself that maybe Times looks more professional on the whole. Should I go for a contemporary look? or professional?

I kept on looking at the whole thing in Times, and I just didn't like the body that way. I liked the header in Times and the body in Arial. But maybe that's just crazy. It might be off putting to other people. So I tried to ask for opinions. Unfortunately, all 5 or 6 people that I attempted to ask all did no respond (and in the case of one person her internet cut out and she left to go buy a new router.)

So to prevent myself from looking crazy, I just settled with my original choice and left the whole thing in Arial, and sent it in.  We'll see if this leads anywhere.

When I was done, I switched it all to Times just to see what it looked like.

(Ok I lied... a quick update about the Library Aide part time job process.  I had my first mishap with my alarm clock and set it for 7:30 pm rather than am, but I woke up with just enough to get to the Library and take their evaluation exam. It was essentially some basic math and sorting Fiction and Non-Fiction books. When I showed up, there were about 50 people also taking the exam, so getting hired isn't likely.)

Goal Setting - April 2010 through September 2010

Alright, I'm a little behind on this.  I should have put up this post in early April.

January through June Goal Progress

- Graduate

- Become a Pharmacy Technician

- Research Schools

- Lose Weight

- Graduate - I am on track with this.  On track and ready to graduate with my BA in Psychology with a minor in Chemistry.  And graduating with A's in both Psy Research and Genetics

- Become a Pharmacy Technician - This goal is in question. I finally got my pharm tech license, but it may have come too late to be of immediate use.  I did however at least get to work for the Census as a temporary stop gap, and applications are out there.  And listened to a talk from a Walgreens District Manager.  I haven't ignored this goal, but how it's going to turn out by June remains in question.

- Research Schools - I drove down to USC, asked all the schools about their policies on expirations on old completed requirements (I have yet to post about that actually), listened to a presentation by the Phi Delta Chi pledgeclass from UCSF, and took a closer look at GPA requirements and prerequisites.  I could have done more sure, but that can always be said.  I think I've done pretty good in this area.

- Lose Weight - I've somewhat done this. From the beginning of January until now, the total weight loss has only been a slight loss.  (I gained a couple pounds two of the past three weeks.) But I've still been maintaining a slow but steady weight loss.  As long as that continues, it is never horrible.  It would be better, but it's still loss. I've lived with my weight for years, and in the end the time it'll take to lose it all with be nothing compared to that.

Reevaluating Old Goals and Setting New Ones

- Graduate... with A's - I don't just want to graduate. I want to get A's in both my classes. That's something I should be able to do.  It's within my grasp.  I do have to work for it, but it's there.

- Become a Pharmacy Technician... or Just Get Work. - I have to downgrade this goal.  I had my schedule open to get full time work for this time period, but that's now coming to a close. With the semester that I'm planning to have for the Fall, if I can just get part time work that will fit in with my schedule, that will be enough for me.

- Research Schools... Both In and Outside of California - I'm doing decent with the schools inside of California, but by the end of six months, I better know something about the school outside of California.

- Lose Weight... and Reach 190 Pounds - I should be able to lose more than that, but maybe not. The weight loss is steady, but it is slow. I want to keep it up, and outdo it if possible, but at least keep it up.  It feels good to feel good about yourself.

- Study for the PCAT - New goal. I bought the book. I haven't be using it. It's time to change that. I don't need to take the test in the near future, but I will need to take it. It's time to get started with that. Something I really need to do during the Summer months before my 19 unit semester starts.

Summer and Fall 2010

Alright, well... at 6:37am this morning I did a quick check to see if I could add my classes even though it was officially scheduled to open to to all at 8:00am, and bam! I enrolled into both Cell Biology and General BioChem. The numbers had not changed at all with 76 and 39 spots open respectively.  I refreshed the pages as soon as I added and saw the decrease immediately in the numbers, so it's pretty clear those were the actual numbers. 

Besides considering any possible difficulties in a slightly different change in system, I missed the absolutely obvious reason as to why there would be so many spots open in that it costs a lot. There was no regular half time payment for 6 Summer units. It's $1998 total for my two classes.  So I'm lucky that I have this opportunity, but I still have until June 4th to really decide if I can afford the classes.

So how does that affect my Fall semester?  I'll be moving Micro Economics to Fall, making it a total of 19 units. Biology I, OChem I, Microbiology, Nutrition, and Micro Economics. I'll be improving decent grades in the first two classes, fixing a bad grade in microbiology (due to lack of trying), and taking all new classes in the last two.

I hope to also have part time work. Likely not as a pharm tech. That would be ideal, but as I said before, it sounds like people are letting go of techs, and the ones that they are hiring, they want them on for full time. So I have my license now, but it may not get some use for a bit, unless someone wants to hire me full time for the Summer during afternoon to overnight hours.

So I have my Pharm Tech license...

Now the question is, can I get a job?  The job market isn't good right now, and from what I heard from the SF Walgreen District Manager, people are being let go, and not hired.  On top of that, I was hoping for my license to arrive in January or February so I could work full time until the Fall semester started. But now the Spring semester is almost over. Unless someone wants to hire me just for the Summer, I don't expect much to happen. With that said, I've sent in my application to Walgreens. They have a very nice and simple setup at their website. I'll be applying to other places as well, and just see how it goes.

I'm not expecting much, so I also applied to work as a Library Aide. The pay isn't much, but it's still pay and work experience. And they specifically want part time workers which is what I'm going for, especially if they want evenings and weekends. That's something I'll be able to maintain during my 19 unit Fall Semester.  At least that's I hope to enroll in. Fall registration at CCC begins May 3rd.

Summer 2010 - Revised Again or SFSU Continues!

I'm juggling so many balls in my head right now.  It's somewhat hard to know where to start, but let's go ahead with school.

Summer 2010. I made an assumption, and I made it wrong, that it would be nearly impossible for me to get into Summer classes at San Francisco State. The programs are impacted, and it has been nearly impossible to get into any class these past couple semesters. But when I checked, just in case, on the enrollment info for Cell Biology, I was surprised with a nice 76 seats still vacant out of the room that seats an estimated 120!  Priority enrollment continues on until tomorrow, but no one added today.

8:00am Monday morning I'll be adding the class, and I expect to get in. The $325 a unit isn't going to be fun, but this is an opportunity that I shouldn't pass up.

More importantly, because of this latest development, I was browsing through the other available classes for the Summer. I had always assumed that BIOL 340 was the only Biochem class, while it was BIOL 349 that was being offered. Well... just in case again, I just clicked on over to the Western U website to pull up their convenient website that lists equivalent courses, and voila! BIOL 349 is also an acceptable class!! And it still has 39 seats open in a room that holds an estimated 150!

This is huge. I was going to play it by ear, with what classes I'd be able to take and see which schools' minimum requirements I'd be able to reach. Prior to this, I really only had a solid shot at UCSF and Tuoro, but all the out of state schools that I have yet to research. With as many units as I have, and the F's that I allowed myself to get by prioritizing school last in my life, it remains to be seen whether or not I can get the 3.0 minimum prerequisite GPA for USC or UCSD. hose schools are already moved over to the 2nd Round of applications column if I don't get in to other schools on my first attempt.

I also will not have the two required BioChem classes that Western U requires, nor do I plan on applying to Loma Linda because they ask for one Letter of Rec to be from a... I forget how they word it exactly... but something like a faith counselor. Right now I'm a non-practicing Catholic, and I wouldn't feel right asking a priest to write me a letter or recommendation.

So that cuts my choices down to four. UCSF, Northstate, Touro, and UoP. Four thanks to my ability to take both Cell Bio and BioChem during the summer. I expect the reason why there are still seats open is because this isn't the normal enrollment system, and people have to go through the special College of Extended Learning portion of the website, rather than the normal sfsu.edu. Whatever the case may be, I lucked out.

What does this mean for Microeconomics and Intro to Biotechnology at CCC? Well, if I get in, I'm going to drop that, because my schedule would conflict, but I'm still going to take the Biotech class. That class is online and isn't offered on a regular basis from what I can tell.  It's certainly not offered in the Fall.

And this post is long enough as is. I'll just have to get to the other thoughts moving around in my mind in a later post.

CCC - Summer 2010

So with my hopes of being able to get into Cell Biology at SFSU burned down to a nub, I went to my safety net of CCC to sign up for classes. I signed up for Microeconomics with no problem... but when I attempted to add Gen Chem I, it said I couldn't add it.

Apparently since the 8 years or so since I took that class and left CCC, they started a new school wide policy.  No classes can be repeated unless you receive below a C-. That was new to me. After emailing all the schools to find out their expiration date policies for prerequisite classes, I'm pretty safe not retaking a class I already got an A in. But that alters my plans for the coming Fall and Spring semesters. There's no retaking Calculus I & II at CCC. I'll have to explore other community colleges if I want to take those, unless I can get permission.

So what to do? I signed up for Intro to Biotechnology. If things don't work out, I gotta prepare for a back up, and right now working in the biotechnology industry might be it.

SFSU Genetics Exam 2 Results

Ok, exam results in, and it's not good. I got a 62 on the exam. A 62!! Of all the thoughts that went through my head as I walked out that door, almost the wost case scenario happened. The big issue... problem number 1 which was worth 30 points.  

It was one of those problems that had multiple parts to it (5pts, 10pts, 10tps, and 5pts)  For some reason my mind couldn't just quite get the first step to the problem (figuring out the order between three genes) and that messed up my results for the rest of the problem. I changed my answer to one part losing me 5pts, missed a 10pts part, and only got half of the other 10pt part. Netting me only 5 points. (I do however think I should have gotten partial points because I did the calculations flawlessly, just with the wrong assumed order. I'll be going to my professor's office hours and discuss that.) Considering how much time I spent on problem 1 that took time away from reviewing a simple problem that I wanted to take a second look at, in total that simple mistake cost me anywhere from 20-30 points on this exam.

So where does that leave me? There are 400 points to the class. I got a 99 for Exam I + Bonus Quiz.. I have perfect attendance which should equal 50 points. I have my research paper on ALS turned in which can get me up to 50 points. With this 62 points, that's a total of 261 points of 300 taken so far, with 100 left to go.  Sort of.

Good news is that the professor is going to give us a take home exam. Open book, open notes, open people.  The score on this take home exam will be averaged with my lowest score. That means my 62 can turn into an 81. I need a 92% to get an A in the class.  So I have a 12 point window if I perfect the take home and the paper. Perfecting the paper is unlikely. I'm guessing 1 to 5 points taken away from that. If I can get some partial credit of 2 points on my Exam 2 raw score (netting me 1 point after averaging a perfect take home.) then that means I have an 8 point window for Exam 3.

That A is still possible, but I want it guaranteed.  I'll be going to my professor's office hours once a week from here on out.  I don't want a stupid brain fart to cripple my score again.  There will be no bonus quiz this time.  No take home exam.  Exam 3 is Exam 3 and that's it.