Weight Loss - Part 7

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.

Now for the numbers:

Starting Weight: 216.8
Weight Last Month: 209.6
Week 22 Weight: 208.4
Week 23 Weight: 208.8
Week 24 Weight: 207.2
Week 25 Weight: 204
Total Weight Loss: 12.8
Pounds Still to Go: 19.0
Trendline Estimate: 203.9

I didn't keep track of the days I went to the gym. But overall, this month I made some great progress. However, I do expect that when I weigh myself this coming Monday, that there will be a gain. Hopefully it doesn't completely eliminate the progress I've made. But overall, breaking the 205 mark so soon after finally breaking the 210 mark is very encouraging. I can certainly see the difference, and it's so strange thinking that if I lose just 5 pounds, that over 25% of the weight that I want to lose.  I'm getting there. I don't know when I'll reach 185, but my goal for reaching 200 by my birthday seems very possible. It's a good feeling.

SFSU - Summer 2010 Update

Summer registration is coming.  But sadly I have to report a correction to my previous post. SFSU will still be handing out priority registration dates, even though they'll be using the college of extended learning type of registration. That means the chances of me being able to squeeze in Cell Biology even though I'll be graduated have been greatly reduced.  They'll be getting a week head start on me, beginning April 12th, while I can't attempt to register until the 19th.  (I know some people have come across my blog looking up info specifically about Summer 2010, go here for all the info, including how to request financial aid and the special form that takes.)

So what does that mean for me? That means I need to plan out backups. I'll be on the lookout to see how class Cell Bio fills up, and if that happens, prepare to enroll in summer classes at City College of San Francisco and Contra Costa Community College.  At this moment, those classes are looking to be physics I and microeconomics.

A Meetup with the Walgreens District Manager - Part 3

[Note: Here's the final part. A quick talk about career paths, Q&A, and some closing comments. The responses are of course not word for word. Just paraphrased as best as I could manage.]

Rhonda: I wanted to work with people, so I chose community pharmacy. That's what attracted me as opposed to hospitals. There are hundreds of career paths as a licensed pharmacist. Once you finish, once you pass the board of pharmacy exam, from there the world of pharmacy is open to you. A lot of pharmacy students don't become aware until their third year at how open the world is. There's research, academia, compounding, nuclear, pediatric, and geriatric. You'll never be bored. If you don;t like it you can move on. Some of you will go onto a residency for special training for an additional year. There's ambulatory care, acute care, inpatient. You'll figure that out when you do your rotations. From there you can choose your path.

Any questions?

Q: Do you have any interesting stories?

A: (Stephanie) - You meet a lot of different people, meet a lot of different populations. I did compounding in a mental health clinic. You see a lot of interesting patients and will be able to apply a lot of stuff from class to real life situations. I got to do a lot of vaccinations and immunizations. You learn how to guide your interview differently with different patients. That takes experience and what I got through the rotations. They weren't all one on ones with the patient, sometimes one on one with their nurse or doctor.

Q: I passed the PTCE and am waiting for my license to arrive. Should I wait for the physical license to arrive before applying? Or should I just apply now? [Asked by me if you couldn't tell.]

A: You should apply now, just make sure to mention when you sent in your application. Some managers are planning out a couple months in advance. But for some reason, lately, our pharm techs have had to wait 4 to 5 months for their license. Until you get it, you might work as a cashier or a clerk. Or you might just be answering phones, but you'll still get experience from that.

[Note: 4 to 5 months! That was certainly shocking/disappointing information. However, even with that tip to apply now, I might still wait. More on that in a future post.]

Q: Healthcare reform has been all over the news. What are your opinions on this? [Note: I didn't mark down in my notes when the response changed from Stephanie to Rhonda, so I just made my best guess.]

A: Stephanie - In one of my classes, we're debating the healthcare reform bill and wanting to reduce costs. In the end you'll still have pharmacists. It'll be competitive in terms of profitability, but we have an aging population, and people are living longer. The need for medication will still be there. The role of pharmacists will still be there.

Rhonda - It's also evolving and changing. We're not just dispensing. We do things like MTM and other things that add value to our services as pharmacists. This one seriously impact our career in our lifetime. There won't be an overabundance of pharmacists due to that aging population. There is a hazard, but from what I can see, it goes in a cycle. Sometimes we're totally short. We just finished that cycle. For the last 10 years we were scrambling. Hospitals, Walgreens, everybody. In the last two years we have not been scrambling. But that's not to say that the unemployment rate isn't high. But it comes in cycles and right now you're 4 to 5 years away so there's time for things to change again.

Q: Are people hiring pharm techs?

A: Maybe not hiring as fast or as much as 2 or 2 1/2 years ago. Reimbursement rates from insurance is decreasing rapidly. And the techs are the first to go. It's a little bit tight right now, but certainly not totally impossible. Apply to as many places as you can. All chains and independent pharmacies.

If there aren't any more questions, I'd like to end with a few words.

I'm excited for you guys. I think it's a great profession. I've really enjoyed it these past 20 years. I've never regretted it. It's been really rewarding from one to one interaction, to now, which is less so. It's a great profession. I think you'll really enjoy it. Starting salary has always been way up there. You won't starve as a pharmacist, so that will be good. And it's very flexible. Don't let the cost of pharmacy school deter you.

Something that I see a lot are people being really focused on "I need to stay in California. I need to stay in SF." I see a lot of my techs applying to only two schools. Some apply to more, but it's usually UCSD and UCSF. I know it's costly, but throw in two or three out of state schools. At least you'll have an option and you're not standing there for a year wondering what to do.

A Meetup with the Walgreens District Manager - Part 2

- PharmCAS - It opens in June.  There are multiple deadlines for things such as LORs and when you need to submit your transcripts. It costs $150 for your first app, then $40 for each additional school you want it sent to.

  

- PCAT - Happens four times a year.  Usually around May, July, September, and December.

- Interview - You want to rehearse, but not over rehearse. Use bullet points so you can still keep it as a conversation. I can tell when someone I'm interviewing has been searching for a summer job. Make sure to answer key points but don't sound rehearsed. As an employer it doesn't sound good because communication is an important part of the job. And as a pharmacist you are an educator. You inform them how to use it, possible side effects and drug interactions.  That's your role.

Possible Questions:

- Why do you want to be a pharmacist?

- What areas of pharmacy interest you the most and why?

- What do you plan on doing withyour degree and why?

- What do you do for fun?

(Stephanie) UCSF, UoP, and UCSD, all asked similar questions. Do mock interviews. A lot of questions are to see what kind of person you are. How active you’ve been during your undergrad. They might ask hypothetical or ethics questions.  Take a look at other sample questions.  

Currently in Retail

- MTM Services - Medication Therapy Mangement.  It's about reviewing patient profile and medications and advising. Taking a look at all their prescriptions and checking if there is anything wrong, duplications, etc then making recommendations to their physician for dosing or other changes.

Often a pharmacist makes an appointment, they meet one on one, then run interventions with physician.  45 min to an hour process. Billing services to insurance company.

MTM is designed to:
Improve care

Enhance communication among patients and providers

Improve collaborations among providers

Optimize medication use

Improved patient outcomes

Core Elements:
Medication therapy review (MTR)
Personal med record (PMR)
Medication action plan (MAP)
Intervention and referral 
Document and follow up

- Immunization Advocacy – In the last several years, pharmacists have been able to give immunizations.  A lot of them deal with travel.  

Vaccines available at Walgreens:
Seasonl influenza
 H1N1
 Zoster
Typhoid fever
Hep B
Hep A
Pneumococal
Tet/dip/tertussis
Varicella
Poliomyelitis
Tet/dip
HPV
Japanese encephalitis
Yellow fever
Rabies
Meningitis

Community Health Fairs – Giving health care to people who may not have access and to education the community.

Brown Bag Day – a day where pharmacists will be there and people will bring their medications in a brown bag. Then have a MTM one on one with pharmacist advising them.

Outreach – To places like Senior Centers

A Meetup with the Walgreens District Manager - Part 1

No, I didn't call up the Walgreen District Manager myself, this was an event set up to the Pre-Pharmacy Association.  Gotta get that outta the way.  The event was last week, but my focus on my psy lit review (I got a 44/45 by the way.  That was an extremely quick turn around on grading by the professor.), got me to put it off until now.

Short Bio: Rhonda went to pharmacy school in school in St. Louis Missouri.  Worked in various settings, but mainly in retail.  She started at Walgreens as an intern which led to work there as a pharmacist.

Along with the SF district manager was a UCSF student pharmacist, Stephanie.  She's finishing up her final year, and is doing a six week management internship with Rhonda.  (I assume that means she's in the Health Policy and Management pathway.  Something I'm definitely interested in.)

Well... for the beginning of the talk, there was a lot of repeated info.  I'm not going to type it all out this time, but here's some quick points: Have good time management (prioritize, to do lists, etc.), talk to your advisors and do your research on the schools to plan out the pre-requisites you need, ask for good letter of recommendations, and make yourself well-rounded.

Now for some useful new info, or at least not frequently repeated info:

ACPE.  The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education.  The site to go to check the accreditation status on new schools.  Just click on "Students" and then "Which programs are accredited?"  They check on the curriculum, faculty, and staff, to make sure it meets the standards.  (Tuoro has reached full status, while Northstate is still in candidate status.)

A way to get experience is to become involved with a national pharmacy organization or a pre-pharmacy club, or mentoring program.  There is also job shadowing and employment at a pharmacy.  Here's a list of orgs to check out:

ASHP, AMCP ASCP APhA,

American society of health system pharmacists

Academy of Managed Care pharmacy

American Society of Consultant Pharmacists

American Pharmacists Assocation

In UCSF, they’ll intro you to these orgs, and you’ll likely have to join most of these.  Unfortunately I didn't write down exactly what role pre-pharmacy students can have in these, but she mentioned something brief.  There are of course events that they throw that you can participate in.

  

Now for student groups:

CSHP, CAPSLEAD, NCPA, SNPhA, LAPS

California Society of Health System Pharmacists

California Pharmacy Student Leadership

National Community Pharmacists Association

Student National Pharmaceutical Association

Latino Association of Pharmacy Students

And we'll close out Part 1 with some suggested resources. Some are repeats, but I'm still putting them here just to show what she thought was important to share:

pcatweb.info

aphanet.org/students

snpha.org

acpe-accredit.org

aacp.org

pharmcas.org

Finally Got Some Work! Census 2010

I got my call back from the 2010 Census.  Training's from Monday, March 22nd to Wednesday, March 24th from 8:30am to 4:30pm.  I have no idea why the training takes that long, but I'll find out when I get there.  I just gotta bring two forms of ID, a voided check so they can set up direct deposit, and do some more fingerprinting.

They want me to work at least 20 hours a week as an enumerator (that means unfortunately no office work, but I knew spots were limited), for up to two months.  Work will however be limited to... how much work is available.  And that all depends on who does/doesn't turn in the census packets in the mail I assume.

This is a good morale boost while I still wait for my pharm tech license.  However the timing of the training means that I'm forced to miss class on Monday and Wednesday.  This means I'll have to learn stuff on my own.  In terms of Genetics, there is no class next Friday, Spring Break is the week after that, then Exam 2 is the Friday after we get back from Spring Break.  That means this is a good opportunity to see what kind of understanding I can come to on my own, as well as finally drop in to my professor's office hours.  Perhaps should could be a potential candidate for asking for a letter of recommendation when the time comes.

Toolbox - Weight Loss

Everything counts. I worked in a bug lab for three years. It doesn't seem related, but just knowing how to do research, and put together a book and presentation... those are skills you'll be using a lot. Put it all in your toolbox. Hopefully it's big and always expanding.

- UCSF Phi Delta Chi Pledge

That's good advice, and is something I should be doing. And well... I somewhat am. I always thought of this blog as taking on that function. But as I write more and more posts, it's going to be harder and harder to find those specific events that'll be placed in that toolbox of mine.  So it's time I start explicitly saying it straight out, and time to start labeling this specifically with the tag "toolbox" so when it comes time to fill out apps, I'll all be right there waiting for me.

And one quote leads to another.  This time quoting myself.

The fact that there's still progress, that I'm still motivated, and that I still believe I can make it is what matters.  Once I hit my mark, that's going to last me for years, if not the rest of my life.  A couple more months isn't that big of a difference.

I wrote that during my last weight loss update, and as soon as I typed that paragraph, it didn't escape me that the sentiment parallels the journey to pharmacy school as well.  I strayed a bit, but I'm on track now, and I see progress towards my goal.  As long as I believe I'm on the right course, can see that progress to the eventual conclusion, and remain motivated, once I get there, I'll be there, regardless of how behind I feel right now.

But that's not the part of the quote that goes in my toolbox. It's the actual weight loss. It hit me that losing weight might actually be worth talking about on my application.  It is something that I've been struggling against nearly my whole life.  If I do reach my goal, and if I do maintain that weight after I lose it... well... that's a pretty clear physical manifestation of the new drive that I have in my life.  It really does mirror the new state of mind that I'm in, and is clear evidence that I'm now willing to put in the proper amount of work to reach a difficult goal.

It's not enough proof all by itself of course, but once I show that I've also maintained straight A's since I've reached this new state of mind, I think it is certainly a significant enough event in my life that it's worth mentioning.

Productivity is Addictive

I gotta admit that I was in bit of a slump. That can obviously been seen in the amount of posts that I put up in February. I was hoping to have my pharm tech license by now, and have plenty to write about surrounding that whole new experience surrounding my life, yet the wait continues. 

But I gotta say being busy this past week doing research for my group paper, and the good experience I had putting all of it together has been really great at reinvigorating me. I felt a little restless yesterday after waking up from my much needed rest.  I wanted to do something productive. So it's time to just start moving forward for my genetics writing assignment.

We were randomly assigned some genetic condition and have to write a simple three to five length paper on that condition from the genetics perspective. I pulled an index card out of hat and came up with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's Disease. Remember that I came from a physics background, and so it shouldn't be too surprising that Stephen Hawking is one of my heroes, and he happens to have this condition. I think this will be a fun topic to do some research on.  It's due April 5th.

It's nice feeling my drive get a bit of a boost. That's something I have to remember for the future. Find a way to take advantage of this little insight for the times when I need a slight kick in the pants as it ebbs and flows.

Google Docs is Your Friend - Psy Group Project Lit Review

I haven't posted in nearly a week, not because I had nothing to say, but because I was trying to focus. Had a group project due today. Pretty much we had to research, summarize, and put together a paper that describes all the related previous research for the project we chose. That sounds fairly simple. But we had to cite at least twenty peer reviewed journal articles. And that means finding and reading much, much more than twenty articles. Thankfully things are easier now with internet databases at our finger tips, but still... it's like going to a wikipedia article, then clicking on a link in the article to lead you to another, which will lead to another, and another, until you found enough useful information to tell the story you want to tell.

Thankfully my group members did their share of the work for the most part. Certainly one of the best groups I've worked with in recent memory. I did not feel like I was alone doing all the work. One of them didn't help as much when consolidating our different segments of the paper into one coherent paper with one coherent voice, but he did a lot of research, and I find that to be the harder part. I enjoy writing.

And even with just three people, sometimes it's hard to get together all at the same time, but I came up with the idea to use Google Docs from the beginning. If we found an article, we numbered it, linked it, and put it up there. If someone summarized an article, even one that they didn't find themselves, they left the notes up there for everyone to see. If we had messages to each other, we left them up there. And you can see when other people are on there the same time as you.

There is no chat feature incorporated into the software, but eventually I came up with the idea to just box off the top section of the doc with some dashed lines, and labeled it chatbox. So when we put together the final paper, and edited each other's sections, and went through the checklist of things we needed to accomplish, we could leave messages for each other fairly easily, since we knew to periodically look up and check for new messages. Not as convenient as a true chat feature, but came pretty close.

Google docs is such a beautiful program. Simultaneous editing until 3am in the morning, all from the comfort of our own homes even though we live pretty far apart. And no need for one person to do the work, email it to everyone else and have them review it, and then someone else revise and email it out again. So convenient, so useful. Google docs is your friend.

SFSU Genetics Exam 1 Results

Alright.  So I took my first real science exam for the first time in three semesters.  I've had my time away from the sciences, and been getting perspective from my time in psychology.  How did I do now that I'm dipping back in it?

Well, first gotta re-explain the way the exam turned out.  It was all short answers, and I wrote down answers for all the questions, but I didn't write out full explanations like I wanted.  I was constantly writing the entire time with one a few minutes to pause and think.

Then after we were done with the exam, we got an email from the teacher saying that many students were complaining that there wasn't enough time to take the exam.  She decided to drop the score from 100 to 80, and give an an additional quiz worth 20 points plus 5 extra credit.

So how did I do?  78 on the exam, 20 on the quiz, and 2 extra credit.  100/100!  That's both an exclamation both of woo! and aww!  

Woo! in terms of getting 100/100 of course.  I have an A.  An A+ actually.  That's a nice thing to see.  I aced the adjusted score that the teacher felt was fair.  And my final grade is what the admissions committees are going to see.

However... this isn't just about grades. I have to be in the mindset of performing well in pharmacy school, and not just about getting to pharmacy school.  I got 100/100 on paper. I got 100/125 in reality, and I could have done better. I was afraid I was going in overconfident to the exam, and I was.  Regardless of what the teacher ended up doing with the score, I know I could have done better. I know I could have studied harder.  I know that the preparation I did was not good enough for pharmacy school.

I'm not ready yet. That may be a little unfair, because on one hand, I only have 6 units, so it seems like I should have plenty of time to study. But on the other hand, I only have 6 units, so there's no urgency pushing me to study harder. That's something I'll have to test out when I retake some classes, and I try to overload my schedule. That'll be a better glimpse at how my performance might be in pharmacy school.

But until then, I can be satisfied with my score, and I can take it as a positive that I feel like I should have done better. That I was right that I was being overconfident, which should help me study better.  So we'll see how it goes next exam which comes on April 9th. Til then I have a psychology research group project, and a genetics research paper to work on.

UCSF Phi Delta Chi Pledgeclass Presentation - Part 4

Student Panel - Real raw and uncut stories at UCSF - Part 2

Question: In your opinion what made your app stand out?

2 - I started really late. Not until the 2nd semester of my junior year. I only had the math prerequisites. What made me stand out? I did a lot of theater, worked as a waiter, and in an animal lab. It showed a lot of passion. [Note: How many times was that word used now?] Theater and nothing to do with medicine, but you do learn about leadership, directing actors, group work, time management, etc. I worked on a grad project, it combined theater and medicine. We worked with elders to see how they'd like to have a better relationship with their doctors. [I think I may have lost a little bit of the content there.] Do what you like and not just what you think they want to see. As long as you have passion [Ding!], it will show, and the admissions committee will see it.

Q: What was the strangest interview question you were asked? (Not necessarily at UCSF.)

1 - At UoP, the professor asked me if, since I was the symposium chair for the pre-pharmacy club, he asked me if I've done anything illegal in setting it up, or if I was asked to do anything illegal, and how did I go about handling the situation. I didn't know how to answer it. I think I ended up telling him that the school gives you a certain amount of money for specific things like PR. We needed money elsewhere for the event, and had to work out how to shuffle money around. I explained that hosting a successful symposium was the ultimate goal. An answer to a question like that will show your character.

Guy (also a pledge, but not on the panel) - I applied to Hawaii, and the interview was going great. If you could have dinner with anyone living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why? I ended up saying Wonder Woman. His response was, "Oh I love comic books!" We spent fifteen minutes discussing comic books. I rocked the interview.

2 - They ask you questions like that because they only know you on paper. They want to get to know you. I got asked if you could be an amalgamation of two people, who would they be? I said Brad Pitt and Kobe Bryant. I want to look good, and Kobe's athletic and cool. I want to be like him.

Q: What aspects do you enjoy most of pharmacy school?

3 - One of the best things is getting to know all of our classmates. We have a great group. During my undergrad, I had the mentality that as long as I get above the curve, I'm fine. I don't need to set it, as long as I'm over. [Laughs.] In grad school, it's all set. Because of that, your mentality has to change. Before going in you think everyone has to be cutthroat and competitive, and want to set the standard, but that's not true. Classmates are really willing to help you. Classmates who don't procrastinate as much make these really nice charts. I'm doing other things so I don't have as much time, and I look at their study charts. They're not thinking, "Oh no, this person might do better than me."

2 - Upperclassmen will sent you cheat sheets and their tests. If your grades are slipping, the staff will help you. They've very supportive.

Q: What is the most challenging aspect?

5 - There are so many things you can do outside of studying. There are a lot of orgs to join. As an undergrad, I wasn't very involved. Business, reserach, serving, etc. Professional frats. It's exciting. You want to join them all. But there's only 24 hours in a day. I want to do things I find interesting, but have time to study. You're with the cream of the crop. People study a lot. You need time management to squeeze everything in. But everyone is supportive. You don't have to make your own study guides. There are study guides galore. [Note: Nice to know, but for me, as well as other people I'm sure, making the study guide is part of the learning. But still nice to know if necessary.]

Q: How is the academic work load compared to undergrad?

5 - I study less now than when I was an undergrad. There are so many things you can do. The stuff we're learning now is a lot more applicable. OChem comes back. It never leaves. BioChem too. They're classes you've seen before. It's doesn't seem as bad.

1 - [Says the opposite of 5] As an undergrad, you take a combination of easy and hard classes to balance things out. You can't do that anymore. Finals week is death.

Guy - We have a class size of 122. You can pull out a B or an A in undergrad if you fail your first exam. Most of the classes now just have a midterm and final. And homework doesn't count. You see OChem again, but it's very specific what they want you to know.

Girl - They tell you what you need to know over and over again. They repeat it a lot. They make a point and put in effort so you internalize it.

Q: Last thoughts?

Someone - Don't get discouraged. I felt I had to apply right away. But I took two years off. I didn't want to, but I applied and got rejected. At the time I was discouraged, but looking back, it was probably good for me. Time to find myself and if I really wanted to do pharmacy. I felt that made my application stronger 'cause I found that reason. Don't feel like you have to apply right away, and there's a certain timeline you have to follow.

Guy - I'm 36. It's been fifteen years from undergrad to pharmacy school. But it doesn't make a difference. We're all there now. It makes the experience richer to have variety.

1 - Word of advice from my mentor saying that personal statements are important. When you're doing all these extracurricular activities, you may forget about some details that make you stand out. When you do an experience, take out a word file and type it our right away so you don't forget anything. Then when you look back you can say, "Oh, I can write about this experience, or that experience."

Girl - I did that, and when it came to my application, it helped a lot. When I shadowed a pharmacist, I asked myself what made that person a good pharmacist. When you write your personal statement, you can say, "I fit the criteria." Another thing people overlook is that a lot of people talk about how pharmacy fits your personality, but don't forget about how you can help and contribute.

---

Then that was it. For me at least. They opened it up for questions from the audience, but I had to excuse myself to make it in time to see Wicked: A New Musical. I would have liked to have stayed. Overall it was a great presentation. Besides all the factual information and advice giving, they also gave off a great vibe, and seemed genuinely excited to come speak to us. That's always a great thing when making a presentation, and hopefully is a sign of their experience overall as student pharmacists.

UCSF Phi Delta Chi Pledgeclass Presentation - Part 3

Now it's time for the student panel.  They had six members of their pledgeclass sit up front, with preset questions. Questions from the audience was opened up afterwards, but unfortunately I couldn't stay because I also had tickets to watch Wicked:  A New Musical. (Which was awesome by the way.) For ease of taking notes, I just numbered the panelists, rather than try to remember their names.

---

Student Panel - Real raw and uncut stories at UCSF

Question: Tell us about yourself. [Ok, that's a not a question, but you get it.]

1 - Grew up in SF, went to Lowell High School. Went to UC Berkeley as an undergrad.

2 - Graduated from Berkeley in 2007 as a Bio and Theater major, took two years off to work on pharmacy [to be a better candidate?  Or prerequisites, I missed that.] and to act.  "And I like bunnies."

3 - Grew up in SF, went to Mills then UCSD as a BioChem/Cell Bio major, with a minor in Healthcare and Social Issues

4 - Grew up in Oakland, went to Berkeley [Lots of Berkeley folks], graduated in 2008 in Molecular Biology, took one year off to work in a hospital.

5 - Grew up in Taiwan, went to a community college first, then UCSD in BioChem/Chem.  Graduated in 2004, "So I'm above the average age." Worked for five years for pharmaceutical companies, Genentech [and one other].  "I had a bunny."  I've never worked in a pharmacy.

6 - Grew up in SF, went to Lowell High School, then Berkeley in Molecular Toxicology. "I was supposed to be the year of the bunny, but I ended up being born in January, so I'm the year of the tiger."

Q: What attracted you to pharmacy?  Why Pharmacy?

1 - I was always interested in the sciences.  They were my favorite classes in elementary.  When I was 15, there was an opportunity to intern at the UCSF drug production lab, so I tried it out.  All the pharmacists and students there seemed really happy.  As I found out more and more, I became more and more intrigued.  I've been really glad I chose this.

2 - I always liked camping.  But when you're out there you always get stung by something or there's poison oak, and my brother had asthma, and I would always freak out.  I was also interested in the sciences.  I volunteered in a pharmacy and I liked being there with the patients, not all of them are nice, but some of them are, and they'll bring you food.  [That probably doesn't make sense to you guys who are reading this, but it made sense when I was there!]  You're always learning.  There's so many opportunities, so much to learn.

Q: How did you prepare? For pharmacy school.

3 - I'm probably not the best example.  I was in my third year when I decided.  I joined the UCSD pre-pharmacy society.  I got exposure there.  I worked discharge at a pharmacy. [That may not be totally right.]  I did my research, and talked to relatives.  For extracurricular activities, I volunteered for walkathons to raise money for the underprivileged, and danced a lot.

5 - I didn't think I wanted to do it.  When I decided, I took classes at community colleges after I graduated.  I needed a break from high school.  There are things that you do that you are passionate about.  Write about that in your personal statement.  You might think like you don't have anything to talk about, but if you look back over the years about all the little things you've done, you'll see you've done a lot.

6 - Everything counts.  I worked in a bug lab for three years.  It doesn't seem related, but just knowing how to do research, and put together a book and presentation... those are skills you'll be using a lot.  Put it all in your toolbox.  Hopefully it's big and always expanding.  

What did you find most challenging?

4 - There are five main areas they look at.  Personal statement, interview, academics, extracurriculars, and letter of recommendation.  Don't forget to emphasize extracurricular activities.  They want to see a track record of serving the underserved communities.  They want to see passion.  Doesn't have to be pharmacy related experience.  Doesn't have to be health related.  I tutored for three years.  You'll be educating patients as a pharmacist, so it's similar.  It doesn't have to be science related.  I studied Japanese for three or four years, and mentored foreign exchange students.  I think the admission people were interested in that experience.

What's something you wish you would have known?

5 - The personal statement is super important.  You're trying to describe yourself in five essay questions.  There are 1,300 applicants.  Spend a lot of time there.  It was challenging for me to be personal because I've been training to be objective.  Make sure it's stuff you're passionate about.  It could be something simple like taking your grandma shopping every week.

6 - Be organized overall.  There isn't one deadline.  There are multiple deadlines.  There are very similar deadlines.  There is a general and supplemental application.  I didn't do a good job of that.  I only applied to two pharmacy schools.  A lot of people do five or more.  For USC, I thought the deadline was November 3rd, but it was November 2nd.  I came back from a camping trip and it was closed, so I missed it.  But I'm glad since I saved some money.  [Everyone laughed.]

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I'm going to cut it off here, and put up part 2 of the student panel tomorrow.

UCSF Phi Delta Chi Pledgeclass Presentation - Part 2

Alright.  Time for Part 2.  Some more of the same stuff, but new stuff as well, compared to my previous visits.  The most important new info is in the Cost of Attendance section.

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Admission Stats

GPA - 3.55 ave (2.96-3.97 range.  I assume this is from the newest class.)

Prereq - 3.47 ave (2.77-3.99 range)

Total Units - 142.3 ave

Gender - 63% female, 37% male

CA residents - 86%

US citizens - 95%

Ethnicity - 46% asian, 19% white, 15% under represented minorities, 15% unknown [This got a laugh]

Age - 25 years ave (21-39 range)

Degree - 92% bacchelor's degree, 7% graduate degree, 1% associate's degree

Degree types - Top 2 biochem and chemistry, accounting, anthropology, architecture, art, history, biotechnology, business, english, environmental science, etc.

Tips for Applying

- Start early!

- Space out your work

- Plan your class schedules in advance so you know you can complete your degree and prerequisites on time.

- Be organized

- Read and follow directions!!

- Letter of Recommendations - Don't be afraid to ask "Can you write me a strong letter?"

- Ask early - Give them enough time.  These are just as important as the personal statement.  You don't want a generic LOR.  They should be personalized.

- Personal Statement - Be yourself and be genuine.  It needs to be quality, thought provoking, and well-written.  Don't write what you think they want to read, they can tell.  Come up with something you can believe in.

- What does UCSF look for?  There are no typical UCSF student pharmacists.  You need to convey passion and good understanding of why you chose pharmacy as a profession.  They want unique experiences, personalities, and backgrounds.  Grades are not everything.  

Employment Volunteer Opportunities

- Pharm Tech Programs/PTCB Certification

- Pharmacy Clerk

- Hospital or Clinic Volunteer Programs

Any healthcare experience will do. The Key is persistence in getting a position. Your network will be valuable in getting a position.

Attiude is everything. Regardless of the duty. Have a great attitude and do the best you can. Pharmacy is a small world. People are taking time out of their day to teach you something and if they get a little return on their investment, i.e. free labor, then so be it. And it's important to see if it’s something you really like.

Cost of Attendance

For UCSF, 2009-2010 is $26,397 (per year)

Projected future costs::

2010-2011 - $30,594

2011-2012 - $33,122

2012-2013 - $35,877!!!!

Note: these figures do not include room, board, school supplies, etc.  Source info on UC tuition fee proposals can be found here.

Current Options:

- Stafford Loans (subsidized/unsubsidized) 6.8%

- Subsidized ~8,500, unsubsidized ~24,500 (grace period)

- Grad Plus loans: 8.25%-8.5% (These are a bit higher.  Usually Stafford loans was enough)

- Health Professional Loans (school Loans): 5%  Granted on a by need basis.

- Scholarships

- Grants

Apply early for FAFSA.  The UCSF Student Financial Aid Office is amazing.  Despite the fee increases, it's still a good investment in your future.

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Well... there goes the nice difference in cost for California residents compared to the private schools.  It sucks, but that's just how it goes.  It's just good to know what to anticipate and prepare.  Next up is the Student Panel.

UCSF Phi Delta Chi Pledgeclass Presentation - Part 1

Yes, that's right.  Another series of posts dealing with UCSF. They're nearby, so it's both easy to travel to for the official info sessions and workshops (which they have plenty of) but that also means segments of the the UCSF student body is also nearby to host events that I can go to.

This time it was the pledgeclass of Phi Delta Chi that held a presentation. They coordinated with the SFSU Pre-Pharmacy Association to present to us undergrads. I was surprised with the amount of new information they were able to present to me.  

As always, this is all from my personal notes, and I'm paraphrasing a lot. I'll present it as true as possible, but there may be a mistake or two somewhere.  Always double check anything you think is important.

With that said, let's get on with Part 1! [There's a lot of repeat here, but for the sake of completeness, I'm putting it in.]

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They broke down their presentation into:

- About UCSF

- Different Fields of Pharmacy

- Admission Stats

- Tips for Applying

- Employment/Volunteer Opportunities

- Cost of Attendance

- Student Panel

About UCSF

- Emphasis: Serving the under-served and interprofessionalism

- Quarterly meetings with the other schools on campus (Medicine, dentistry, nursing, and physical therapy.)

- Three pathways: pharmaceutical care, pharmaceutical health & policy management, and pharmaceutical sciences

- One of the most culturally rich cities in the world, amazing faculty with opportunities for research, and opportunity to serve diverse under-served populations

Different Fields of Pharmacy

Traditional

- Retail – Dispense meds, counsel patients on prescriptions and OTC drugs, advise physicians about patients medication therapy

- Clinical – PharmacypPractitioner, work in clinic settings to monitor patients and recommend medication therapies to the healthcare team

- Academia – Professor, mentor, researcher, clinician

Business careers

- Managed Care – Focused on integration and delivery of healthcare to manage accessibility, cost and quality,  and anything involving health insurance programs

- Industry – Variety of jobs including marketing, clinical research and product development, quality control, sales and administration

- Pharmacy Benefit Manager – Consult employers, managed care administration, third party administration to make decisions on patient deductibles, prescription discounts, setting maximum coverage of a plan.

Unusual careers [This title got a laugh]

- Compounding – Often makes medication that is unavailable in a particular form or strength., can also eliminate ingredients that patient may be allergic to such as dyes and preservatives

- Nuclear – Compound and dispense radiopharmaceuticals to hospitals and medical centers

- Veterinary – Compound medications specifically for animal populations, requires extensieve knowledge of animal physiology.  [There some some example about a giraffe here... but I can't quite remember what it was. D'oh!]